Flying to Singapore cheaper than making trip to Delhi

Bangalore: Airfares plunging on the southeast Asian, west Asian and south Asian sectors have made flying to these foreign destinations cheaper than air travel within the country.
Budget carriers Air Asia, Tiger Airways, Air Arabia, Air India Express (AIE) and others are offering fares as low as Rs3,000 per passenger from south Indian destinations like Kochi, Trivandrum, Chennai and Tiruchirappali to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Penang.
For instance, Malaysian no-frill carrier Air Asia has come out with promotional offers that peg its fare at Rs3,169 between Kochi and Kuala Lumpur.
This is 41% lower than the lowest air ticket price on SpiceJet’s Delhi-Mumbai flight on March 26 of Rs5,374 plus taxes.
And it’s not just Air Asia which is offering discounted fares to push up demand. Its rivals are matching their fares to its offer.
V Chandrasekhar, senior manager (corporate communication), Air India, said his airline’s low cost subsidiary Air India Express, which flies to same routes as Air Asia and other overseas budget carriers was offering similar fares.
Deep Kalra, founder and CEO of travel portal MakeMyTrip said fares have hit rock bottom in the past one month due to rise in low fare capacity on these sectors.
29/03/10 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Mar 2010