New fixed air fares soon to halt price war

New fixed fares will be put in place from October 1 to halt the escalating price war between airlines, Gulf Times has learnt.The decision was announced at a managers’ meeting – called by the Civil Aviation Authority – of the 12 airlines operating flights to India.
The gathering was organised by the CAA to check the price war in the market – and the consequent eroding of profits.The CAA has now fixed fares for direct, indirect and low cost carriers to various destinations with managers being told that the market would be closely monitored and strict action taken against violators.
According to sources, the new fares will be higher than those currently available but lower than previously fixed fares.
For Mumbai, for instance, the new ‘low season’ one-way fare would be QR790 as against the previously fixed QR950. In the high season, the new one way fare would be QR890, down from the previous QR1,149.
A round trip would be QR1,390 in the low season against QR1,630 before, and QR1,590 in the high season, compared to QR1,990 in the past.
The bargain fares currently available are much lower and vary from carrier to carrier and sometimes from agency to agency. Contacts further revealed that the CAA had also fixed the fuel surcharge. For the GCC and intra-Gulf it will now be QR140 for a one-way flight and QR280 for a return. For India and Europe it is QR240 and QR470.
Currently, airlines have different surcharges and one airline has even merged the cost with the fare. This, the CAA said, should be discontinued and advised everyone to mark the fare and surcharges separately.
26/09/08 Arvind Nair/Gulf Times, Qatar

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2008