Foreign airlines offer special summer air fares

New Delhi: To counter recession and slow down in tour and travel business many foreign airlines are coming up with special fares ahead of summer holidays. People who were earlier postponing their trips because of the higher airfares have made the most of the opportunity and booked well in advance for their summer holidays since these are for a limited period.
KLM is giving Delhi- London for Rs 9,900 excluding the taxes while Emirates is give Mumbai-Dubai-London for Rs 19,880. Thai Airways has come out with a fare of Rs 35,000 (inclusive of taxes) on the Mumbai-Sydney sector.
However , this is only for the day flights out of Mumbai . Compared to this Qantas is offering a fare of Rs 51,939 (inclusive of taxes), this is from Mumbai to two cities in Australia. All these special fare are valid till 31 March,2009.
According to TAAI which is the apex body of tour and travel industry with more than 3200 agents as its members says that there has been a drop in summer packages to the tune of 30% to 35% this year as compared to last year. Sunday ET spoke to three leading international airlines , all agreed that discount are be offered to bring back the passengers.
On the condition of anonymity one leading international airlines official said:” Overall there is a slowdown both in air and hotel industry . Many leading international airlines for certain period of time are offering attractive rates to woe the traveler. In fact the destination that these airlines is offering special fares are Europe, London and Dubai where this time of the year demand for travel is more.”
Interestingly during these times carriers such as Air Asia, Sama Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines are adding India as its new destination . Many in the industry are hoping that the discount offered by foreign airlines will help increase the sales. India market is seen as a growing market for international air traffic and the current market size is $ 5 billion per year.
22/03/09 Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2009