No-frills airlines offer a summer of freebies

Mumbai: The Rs99 flight ticket is back even as some of India’s airlines revive a promotional tactic they abandoned in 2007-08 after low prices resulted in them posting aggregate losses of $500 million or Rs1,995 crore in 2006-07.
The move is aimed at increasing passenger traffic but executives in some airlines say that it will only end up increasing losses. The announcement of the Rs99 fares comes just before the beginning of India’s summer holiday season.
No-frills carrier SpiceJet Ltd has launched what it calls the “red hot spicy fares” in select sectors, mostly short-distance routes. Simplifly Deccan and InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd’s IndiGo, too, have announced tickets that start at Rs99.
The Wadia Group-promoted Go Airlines India Pvt. Ltd, which runs low-fare carrier GoAir, has done one better—it has introduced a free ticket (this means passengers pay just tax and surcharge) for flying anywhere till 25 October. And all children up to the age of 12 travelling with their parents fly free during the summer holidays.
15/04/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Low Cost General Apr 2008