Sahara offers US round trip for Rs 38,000

Air Sahara triggered a price war on the India-US route following its tie-up with American Airlines. For a direct service between India and the US, it will charge Rs 38,000 for a round trip - at least 30 per cent cheaper than existing fares.

Other airlines operating services in the India-US sector said they were evaluating the development and may respond by lowering their fares.

"Competition will always result in lower prices. We are looking at the new fares announced today and will take a call on it in some time," said an executive with a leading European carrier, which operates services connecting India and the US.

American Airlines and Air Sahara have entered into an agreement allowing the US carrier to serve the lucrative India-US route using the Indian carrier's license on a revenue share basis.

The agreement, known as code-share agreement, will allow American Airlines and Air Sahara to offer tickets to customers on each other's behalf.

The passenger traffic between India and the US is estimated to be over 2.75 million and growing over 5 per cent.

As per the agreement between the two carriers, a passenger from major Indian cities will be able to fly to any of the major US cities for Rs 38,000. The services on this sector will start on November 17 on the Delhi-Chicago route.

The special fares would be available till February 28 next year, but not for travel between December 16 and January 15. The fares exclude security surcharge and applicable taxes.

The code-share contract would enable the US carrier's passengers to avail of easy connections within India an the US through each others network. The two carriers expect traffic between Delhi and Chicago to be 2 million passengers.

"Air Sahara will carry the domestic passengers in India to Delhi, which our point of operation in India and American Airlines will fly the domestic US passenger to Chicago as feeder to this service. The service between the two cities will be operated by American Airlines. This is just the beginning of the alliance. We are looking at ways to take it beyond the current levels," said Athar Khan, managing director, Asia Pacific, American Airlines.

This will also be the first direct service between the two countries, with other services by European, South East Asian and Gulf carriers are through hubs in these regions.

According to Khan, the direct service would help passengers save substantial amount of time.

Besides Delhi, the special fares would be available from other Indian destinations like Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore. For other cities, the passengers will have to pay a nominal amount as airfare, said K Damodaran, Air Sahara's senior vice-president for sales.