IA to increase prime route flights

National carrier Indian Airlines (IA), close on the heels of announcing a fare cut, is now increasing frequencies on prime domestic routes. It is also upgrading its services on key sectors.

The carrier's efforts come at a time when private domestic carriers waiting to hit the international skies are conserving their resources to announce a full-fledged international operation. IA largely operates on the domestic sector besides servicing international routes in the Gulf and south-east Asia.

The airline is looking at doubling its Delhi-Hydrabad frequency to four flights a day from two daily at present. On the Delhi-Katmandu route, the capacity will be doubled with two flights a day from a daily flight now. Frequency on Mumbai-Kolkata sector will be enhanced to three flights a day from two now.

A senior executive with IA said: "IA has registered a 30 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2004. The overall market growth has also been around 30 per cent. There is a big potential for capacity expansion on certain key routes and we will continue to expand. We are further working on several new promotional schemes."

The product upgradation to be rolled out will see Boeing 737 services being replaced by twin-class Airbus 320 aircraft on Delhi-Ahmedabad and Chennai-Hyderabad routes.

Indian Airlines had recently announced `IA Metro Non-Metro scheme' covering 224 metro and non-metro combinations whereby a passenger travelling on metro routes will now have to pay just Rs 1000 for an onward journey to a non-metro city. Some other promotional fares include positioning flight fares, super-saver fares, flexi-fares, and point-to-point fare.