Sahara takes price war to railways

Air fares slashed 60% on metro sectors.

Air Sahara on Monday slashed fares by over 60 per cent on metro sectors. The new fares announced are about 20 per cent lower than the lowest apex fares on most sectors.

As per the new scheme, called Air Sahara SurPrice, a Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi ticket will cost Rs 4,444, about 69 per cent cheaper than now. It is only slightly costlier than the return train ticket in AC II tier, Rs 4,420.

This is also about 35 per cent cheaper than the apex fare return ticket in the sector, which costs Rs 6,900.

"Air fares in India are too high. Our attempt is to bring them down to a level that is affordable for normal passengers," said Air Sahara President Rono J Datta, who took over from UK Bose a week ago. He added that he expected the scheme to be cash-positive for the airline.

Till late this evening, it was not clear if Indian Airlines and Jet Airways too would bring about a similar cut in their fares.

Air Sahara expects people to upgrade from trains with the new fares. "The new round-trip fares are specifically targeted at the AC II passengers," Datta said.

Explaining the economics of the new scheme, Datta said airlines in India had load factors of about 60-65 per cent, while the remaining seats normally flew empty.

"International trends show that a 35 per cent cut in fares is results in a 15 per cent increase in traffic. We expect a similar trend in India," Datta said. However, the tickets will have to be booked 30 days in advance and the scheme will be available only for return tickets.

Besides, travelers should have at least one Sunday stay at the destination, while travel on Sunday will not be eligible for this scheme. Besides, the number of seats in this scheme will be limited.

The Delhi-Kolkata return ticket is priced at Rs 5,555, about 66 per cent cheaper than now. In the Delhi-Hyderabad sector, return tickets are priced at Rs 5,555, about 68 per cent lower than the normal return fare of Rs 17,410 and 36 per cent lower than the Apex fare of Rs 8,650.

In the Delhi-Bangalore segment, the SurPrice tickets are priced at Rs 6,666, about 69 per cent lower than the normal return ticket of Rs 20,860.

In the Delhi-Chennai sector, the fare under the SurPRice scheme will be Rs 6,666 against the normal return fare of Rs 21,470 and the Apex fare of Rs 8080.

In the Mumbai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Bangalore and Kolkata-Chennai sectors, return tickets will available at Rs 6,666.

The current normal fare is Rs 16,380 in the Mumbai-Kolkata sector, Rs 21,780 in the Kokata-Bangalore sector and Rs 18,700 in the Kolkata-Chennai sector.