Domestic airlines are offering discounts dubbed as ‘Monsoon Sale’ to tide over the lean period that extends till October. Carriers such as Jet Airways, Indigo, SpiceJet and AirAsia have started offering discounted tickets, which are cheaper by 50-80 per cent, since mid-June.
On Sunday, Jet Airways dropped business class fares by up to 60 per cent across 180 flights on its domestic network.
Premiere guests on domestic routes will be able to enjoy fares starting from an all-inclusive ₹6,999 for distance less than 750 km and ₹8,999 for distance between 750 km and 1,000 km, applicable on all destinations on the airlines’network. The offer is valid for travel from July 20 to October 15, 2015. In addition, Jet Airways is offering a 20 per cent discount on premiere fares for destinations over 1,000 km.
Other airlines had also launched discounted fares recently, even for international routes. For instance, Mumbai-Dubai ticket is being offered by Spicejet for ₹4,700-5,500 during the sale period which would otherwise cost ₹8,000-9,700.
The only catch in these offers is that the tickets are available for a limited time. For example, one has to book tickets before July 31 to avail the cheaper tickets by Jet Airways. For airlines, , the discounted fares will help attracting passengers.
“We are already seeing a considerable surge in bookings for the monsoon season, which is otherwise a lean season for travel. Incentivising monsoon travel at discounted fares enables airlines to fill capacity in advance, which in this case, is a month in advance,” Amit Taneja, Chief Revenue Officer at online travel agency Cleartrip, told BusinessLine in an interaction.
“On Cleartrip, we are seeing an average fall in prices of 29 per cent, compared with non-sale periods. A Mumbai-Delhi ticket that costs ₹4,819 is priced at ₹2,977 during this sale. Such sale pricing hugely benefits customers,” Taneja added.
These flash sales, according to industry, will help the carriers get advance bookings and help fill up the seats.
“There is certainly a lot of traction from customers which results in around 5-10 per cent surge in sale of airline tickets during this period,” said Neelu Singh, Chief Executive Officer at online travel portal ezeego1.com.