Jet snips metro fares further

New scheme 20% cheaper than the super apex fares and about 60% cheaper than normal fare.

Jet Airways on Thursday joined the fare war by slashing prices in key metro sectors by about 60 per cent. As per the new scheme by Jet Airways called the Special Monsoon Super Apex Fare, the economy class airfare between Delhi and Mumbai will be just Rs 2,500, about 20 per cent cheaper than the existing super apex fares and about 60 per cent cheaper than the normal fare.

The Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi ticket thus works out to Rs 5,000, which is still higher than the return fare of Rs 4,444 announced by Air Sahara a few days ago.

According to the new fare structure, an economy class ticket for a Delhi-Kolkata journey will cost Rs 3,000, against the normal fare of Rs 7,537 and the super apex fare of Rs 3,154.

The Delhi-Hyderabad ticket, under the new scheme, will be priced at Rs 3,500 against Rs 7,928 (normal) and Rs 3,763 (super apex).

Under the scheme, the Delhi-Bangalore, Delhi-Chennai, Kolkata-Mumbai, Kolkata-Bangalore and Kolkata-Chennai flights will cost Rs 3,500.

In the present fare structure, the Delhi-Bangalore ticket costs Rs 9,498 and the super apex fare in the sector comes to Rs 4, 372. A Delhi-Chennai ticket costs Rs 9,776 and the super apex fare scheme comes for Rs 3,502.

Reacting to the aggressive price cuts by the private airlines in the metro sector, Indian Airlines said that it was studying the changes in the market and will come out with schemes that will suit the requirement of travelers.

Another package announced by Jet Airways was the special monsoon point-to-point and return excursion fares, which will be valid from July 26 and will involve a combination of travel to non-metro sectors via the metro sectors.

While special monsoon point-to-point scheme was available on 56 sectors, return excursion fare scheme was available on 26 sectors, the release said, adding the passengers were required to carry their identity cards for these two schemes.

The private carrier also launched special innovative fares for Patna and Lucknow. As per this scheme, economy class passengers on the Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi sector will have to pay Rs 1,999 against the present normal economy class fare of Rs 3,790.

As an inaugural offer on Jet Airways' Delhi-Patna-Delhi flights, which will commence operations from August 16, 2004, passengers buying a return economy class ticket for Rs 11,110, will be allowed to take their companion free of charge.

To avail the new schemes announced by Jet Airways, passengers would have to purchase a ticket for travel 30 days in advance and the entire journey against these fares must be completed on or before October 15 this year.