Touchdown: Airfare at incredible rates

Looking for an attractive option to travel to a business or a holiday destination? Longing to catch a glimpse of the endless blue sky and greeny earth through a bird's eye? or Desiring to whisper into the ears of clouds in the open sky?

Indeed, now 'sky is no limit' for you as air travel is possible with just Re 1 or may be even with a free ticket. Thanks to low-cost airlines which are committed to demystifying air travel in the country by offering lowest airfare and connecting hitherto unconnected cities.

Since these airlines are targeting passengers travelling on air-conditioned firs-class and second-class train tickets, they are empowering almost anybody to fly.

Private no-frill carriers such as Air Deccan, SpiceJet, Paramount Airways and GoAir are setting air travel on fire, revolutionising the levels of low airfare, while many more are raring to go - fly into the Indian skies.

Air Deccan, which kick-started the no-frill revolution, is now connecting 40 destinations with 170 flights a day. Amazingly, Capt G R Gopinath-promoted Air Deccan's airfare starts at just Re 1 for Airbus flights while it is Rs 500 for ATR flights.

"For every flight, there are Re 1 and Rs 500 ticket options, which are offered on a first-come-first-serve basis. So far, Air Deccan has given over 5,000 Re 1 tickets and 1.5 lakh Rs 500 tickets," said a senior company executive.

Other than the well-established routes, Air Deccan's destinations include cities such as Madurai, Vijaywada, Dibrugarh, Baghdogra, Guwahati, Jabalpur, Vaishno Devi, Bhavnagar, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Hubli, Nasik, Surat and Mangalore.

SpiceJet, a rising low-cost carrier, is offering low "everyday spicy fares" and friendly services to its travellers. It operates 38 daily services in 11 markets "� Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Jammu, Srinagar, Chennai and Hyderabad "� utilising modern B737-800 new generation aircraft with an all-economy configuration of 189 seats.

SpiceJet offers Chennai-Mumbai at Rs 1,799 and Hyderabad-Kolkata Rs 1,999, while the promotional fares for these routes are in the range of Rs 999-Rs 1,599. The airline offers Delhi-Chennai at Rs 2,199 (promotional fares are in the range of Rs 1,999"�Rs 2,499), Hyederabad-Chennai at Rs 1,399 (Rs 999-Rs 1,299) and Kolkata-Chennai at Rs 1,999 (Rs 1,799-Rs 1,899).

Meanwhile, Coimbatore-based start-up airline Paramount Airways is offering an introductory fare for Chennai-Coimbatore at Rs 2,222 against Rs 7,000 offered by full-service airline.

The airline is offering Rs 999 to Kochi-Coimbatore service against Rs 5,000 offered by others, and it also offers point-to-point fares to Chennai-Kochi (via Coimbatore) at Rs 2,500 against Rs 6,900. The Coimbatore-Delhi and Kochi-Delhi service starts from Rs 7,999.

Paramount Airways managing director M Thiagarajan informed the airline has made necessary arrangements for easy availability of tickets.

"We have a toll-free number and internet booking facility for securing flight ticket. Moreover, we have widespread travel agents for selling tickets as the airline encourages revenue-sharing model with them," he said.

Significantly, passengers have to pay additional Rs 221 as passenger service fees (PSF) on published airfare.

The Wadia group-promoted low-cost carrier GoAir took off on November 4 with scheduled services to Goa, Ahmedabad and Coimbatore from Mumbai. The airline offers Mumbai-Goa and Mumbai-Ahmedabad at Rs 999, while Mumbai-Coimbatore at Rs 1,699, which includes PSF of Rs 221.

"The airline aims to be the lowest-cost carrier in India and will provide passengers with a comfortable and affordable option to popular holiday and business destinations in India. The fares will be 40 per cent lower than that of traditional airlines and, on an average, 10 per cent higher than air-conditioned first-class and second-class railway fares," GoAir executives said.

Besides, GoAir is offering Rs 10,000 (only taxes Rs 221 applicable) GoAir Free Fare over a period of six months with a limited stock availability on a per-day basis. The airline also offers savings up to Rs 100 on all internet bookings.

Interestingly, passengers, who do not have the luxury of a credit card, a debit card or even a computer, need not have travel distances to book their tickets but can access them from GoAir's distribution mediums that include travel agents, customer care centres, internet options, Tata Indicom centres, Inlott centres and channel partners.

"The four initial routes have been chosen keeping in mind the high amount of traffic to these destinations. GoAir is considering more routes like Bhavnagar, Aurangabad, Kholapur, Rajkot, Jammu, Bhopal and Maduari, among others, at competitive prices," the executives said.

UAE-based Air Arabia, the first international low-fare airline in India, meanwhile, has added an additional daily flight between Mumbai and Sharjah from December 1 to January 31 to cater to increasing demand over the winter holiday season with fares starting from Rs 3,750.

According to Air Arabia country manager Rohit Ramachandran, the flights to the UAE have been extremely popular with business and leisure travellers from Mumbai.

"The winter is a peak travel time, with people travelling between the UAE and India to visit family friends, and we are offering them more flight choices at an affordable fare for Mumbaikars to travel to UAE for the Dubai Shopping Festival," he added.