Kingfisher slashes airfares

NO-FRILL CARRIERS SOAR HIGH

Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines today joined the fare war by reducing its fares on the Mumbai-Bangalore route to Rs 2,999. The offer will be valid for a month.

The airline, which began operations on May 9, offers three fares in the sector at Rs 3,999, Rs 4,999 and Rs 5,999. It has now brought the fares down to a single slab of Rs 2,999.

The normal tickets of Indian Airlines and Air Sahara are priced at Rs 6,495 and Jet Airways at Rs 6,460, respectively, in the same sector.

Kingfisher Airlines also announced the introductory fares for its Delhi-Bangalore service at Rs 4,999. This is almost 60 per cent cheaper than the average existing fares in the Delhi-Bangalore sector.

"When an airline starts service, we need to get people on board. This will work as a great stimulant to us," said Alex Wilcox, chief executive, Kingfisher Airlines.

According to Wilcox, the carrier has seen a good acceptance among passengers. He also said the airline had seen good passenger load factors.

Kingfisher, which hopes to break-even in the first year of operation itself, will also start flying smaller routes in December this year once its fleet of Airbus A 319s come on board.

The airline's A 319 fleet based out of Bangalore will serve operations to cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi amongst others.