Foreign airlines offer special summer air fares

To counter recession and slow down in tour and travel business many foreign airlines are coming up with special fares ahead of summer World's holidays. People who were earlier postponing their trips because of the higher airfares have made the most of the opportunity and booked well in advance for their summer holidays since these are for a limited period. KLM is giving Delhi- London for Rs 9,900 excluding the taxes while Emirates is give Mumbai-Dubai-London for Rs 19,880. Thai Airways has come out with a fare of Rs 35,000 (inclusive of taxes) on the Mumbai-Sydney sector. However , this is only for the day flights out of Mumbai . Compared to this Qantas is offering a fare of Rs 51,939 (inclusive of taxes), this is from Mumbai to two cities in Australia. All these special fare are valid till 31 March,2009. Says Rajji Rai president Travel Agent Association of India (TAAI):” International airlines like Ethiad, British Airways, Cathay Pacific are seen offering more competitive prices than before for the various international destinations from India. Discounted airfares are more for destinations like Dubai, Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong etc. Discounts that are being offered to passengers flying currently are basically a result of the global recession. Airlines have reduced prices as traveling has become less, in order to meet expenses and get more loads on flights, the airlines are coming up with special fares.” According to TAAI which is the apex body of tour and travel industry with more than 3200 agents as its members says that there has been a drop in summer packages to the tune of 30% to 35% this year as compared to last year. Sunday ET spoke to three leading international airlines , all agreed that discount are be offered to bring back the passengers. On the condition of anonymity one leading international airlines official said:” Overall there is a slowdown both in air and hotel industry . Many leading international airlines for certain period of time are offering attractive rates to woe the traveler. In fact the destination that these airlines is offering special fares are Europe, London and Dubai where this time of the year demand for travel is more.” Interestingly during these times carriers such as Air Asia, Sama Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines are adding India as its new destination . Many in the industry are hoping that the discount offered by foreign airlines will help increase the sales. India market is seen as a growing market for international air traffic and the current market size is $ 5 billion per year. With its present international travel market less than two percent of its total population, the country offers tremendous opportunities for the foreign airlines to be operative profitably in India. In fact many in travel and tour companies said passengers have adopted a policy of wait and watch. They are expecting that starting April airlines would announce new rates which could be less that what is offered now in the market. Says Richa Goyal Sikri director, Group Business Development, STIC Travel:” Due to the global economic crisis and traffic slowdown, international carriers have introduced special fares ahead of the summer holiday season in order to pick up the momentum and stimulate demand. Many are holding on to see if better deals come their way next month.”
Economic Times