Bonanza of low airfares to southeast Asia

Chennai: Flying to destinations in southeast Asia may be a good bet during the Christmas, New Year and Pongal holidays, as international low-cost airlines are vying with each other to offer cheap fares from Chennai and Tiruchirapalli.
There will be more seats, too. For instance, Singapore-based low cost carrier Tiger Airways will increase from next month its Chennai-Singapore frequency - from seven flights a week to eleven weekly flights.
Currently, Tiger Airways offer the best return fares from Chennai to Singapore, with the lowest fares ranging from Rs 4,125 to Rs 5,000 for travel in the last week of December. Though the airline charges extra for baggage and food, passengers feel that it's much cheaper compared to the fares offered by Singapore Airlines, Air India, Sri Lankan Airlines and others.
Sales of tickets for Tiger Airways are online, the reason many are unfamiliar with the airline. The airline has one counter at Chennai airport though, to sell last-minute tickets and charge for baggage.
Air Asia, the Malaysia-based low-cost carrier that runs services to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from Tiruchi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, has kicked off an aggressive marketing campaign in the city to familiarise residents about the airline, its services and fares.
Air India will also be joining the low-cost bandwagon. It may replace the remaining full-service IC flights with low-cost Air India Express (AIE) services. AIE flights are now operated from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The Air India official said that AIE flights to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur had good passenger loads.
05/11/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2009, Kingfisher Nov 2009