New Delhi: Only one domestic airline has not bitten the fare war bullet today – Air India. This morning, Jet Airways announced one of the biggest fire sales in domestic aviation with low ticket prices of Rs 2,250 on 20 lakh seats. Within hours, IndiGo had matched Jet’s fares on many sectors; SpiceJet has already completed a similar firesale last month where it sold 10 lakh tickets at Rs 2,013 each. Even Go Air is believed to be offering low fares on select routes. But Air India remains the last airline standing in this fierce fare war.
Why is Air India letting competition get the better of itself? A senior airline official merely said the airline was monitoring fares and ticket sales closely to find out how many tickets are sold each day under this offer by each airline. But sources indicated that Air India may launch its own offer by late tomorrow even as airline officials agree that a firesale could well prove detrimental to the airline’s finances.
19/02/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post
