Pay a fifth less on flights to London

Air fares between India and London have dropped by over 20 per cent because of intense competition and capacity additions by both foreign and local players.

Almost all airlines on this route have started wooing passengers by offering tactical and introductory fares for travelling in the next three months. Leading players on the India-UK route include Jet Airways, Air-India, British Midland (bmi), British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

Richard Branson-promoted Virgin Atlantic has already slashed fares on the Mumbai-London route to Rs 16,500 from Rs 20,000, while the UK's second-largest airline bmi has lowered its fares to Rs 16,000 from Rs 19,500. Jet Airways has also introduced introductory fares of Rs 16,500 on this route.

Airlines are offering the rates, excluding taxes and fuel surcharge. The average fuel surcharge for the India-UK sector is around $65.

Sources said national flag carrier Air-India and British Airways were likely to follow suit even as they had not yet reacted to the fare war on this route.

"Passengers are going to benefit from the capacity additions. Though there will be a strong erosion of yields of these airlines, they will slash fares to increase the market share," aviation industry sources added.

Analysts pointed out that airlines were adopting these tactical fares to attract passengers of indirect flights, which were growing 20 per cent year-on-year.