International airlines are offering discounts up to 34 per cent on overseas travel, in view of the lean season. Air India, Lufthansa, British Airways and Swiss Air Lines are offering discounts between 29 per cent and 34 per cent for the business class.
These discounts apply to prime westbound sectors like the US, the UK and Europe.
For the economy class, the discount is likely to be raised from 10 per cent. The revised rates would be announced soon, said executives at several leading international airlines.
"We are only matching the competitive action in the market and benchmarking ourselves with competitors. Otherwise, our business will be further affected in the lean period," said a senior Swiss Air Lines executive.
Air-India is offering a 29 per cent discount on business class one-way and return fares for travel between September 1 and March 31, 2003 to New York, Chicago, London and Paris. Similarly, Swiss Air Lines is offering a 32 per cent discount in the Europe and UK sectors for travel between September 6 and November 30.
British Airways is offering a 30 per cent discount and Lufthansa a 27 per cent discount on the J-class fare. All these discounts are in addition to the 7 per cent travel agents' commission. Delta has also announced a fare reduction.
Air-India's business class fares for the Mumbai-New York-Mumbai and Mumbai-London-Mumbai sectors are Rs 1.28 lakh and Rs 94,000, respectively.
The move is aimed at combating the lean season that sets in on September 15. Besides these, flyers can avail of several other offers like the "companion offer -- buy one, get one free", implying a 50 per cent discount on net fares. Other schemes include, roughly a 25 per cent lower fare for senior citizens visiting their kins in the UK and the US with effect from September 1.
