Air fare war: Flights to far-east come cheap

With the Civil Aviation Ministry allowing private airlines to operate out of India, warfare in the far-east sector has already begun with Singapore Airlines (SIA) announcing special return fares in the sector.

Now you can fly to Singapore and Kaula Lumpur for Rs 13,100, Bangkok for Rs 16,500 and Hong Kong for Rs 17,500.

Industry watchers expect Air-India and Air Malaysia to lower their fares in the sector.

"We are not going to react to the price reduction by Singapore Airlines immediately. We already have plans to introduce special fares for the far-east sector. We have extended our promotional fares schemes and the packages offered by us are cheaper," Sonia Dutt, marketing manager, South Asia, Malaysia Airlines told Business Standard.

"However, we are not going to compete with the private operators commencing operations in the far-east sector since our products are completely different from what will be offered by the Indian private airline companies," she added.

The Singapore Airlines' offer will only be for a limited period and comes with some riders. Special fares will be available only for the passengers booking tickets through Internet on the SIA India website.

To avail the SIA special fares, consumers need to book their travel between February 10 and 24. The offer is available for travel out of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

"We are looking at Internet sales as an additional channel for increasing our sales efforts in India. The offer that we launched today is intended to encourage Indian travellers to book online and empower them to plan their itinerary real time.

"Internet is a popular medium used by consumers worldwide to book their travel and in India too it is catching on fast," said B K Ong, general manager, India.

Air-India has already entered the price war Singapore Airlines, by reducing its air fare in the Singapore, Kaula Lumpur and Bangkok sectors by over Rs 8,000.

"We have already lowered our airfare in the Singapore, Bangkok and Kaula Lumpur sectors. Our fares are at least Rs 2,000 less than other airlines. We even have exclusive offers in which the passengers can travel to all the three destinations (i.e. Singapore, Bangkok and Kaula Lumpur) for just Rs 19,000. Now we are in talks to lower the airfare in the Australia and New Zealand sector too," said a senior official of Air-India.

Under the new AI fares, one can travel fly to Singapore and Kaula Lumpur for Rs 14,500 only and to Bangkok for Rs 17,000.