Biz travellers may shift to low-class airlines: Study

A section of corporate travellers may shun business class travel and move to low-cost carriers as there seems to be very little difference in the services they offer, according to an aviation think-tank.

In its analysis, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has said that there is “little to distinguish” between the economy class services of low cost carriers like Indigo and GoAir and full service carriers Air India and Jet Airways.

In the Indian market, it said, both services operate from the same airports with new aircraft, offering high frequencies on key markets.

“Low cost carriers’ reliability, on-time performance, consistency, ground product and cabin crew service standards, particularly on IndiGo, are comparable with or even better than full service carriers. Baggage allowance on discount fares is the same on all carriers,” it said.
It said that for an Indian passenger, there is not much difference in economy class other than the fact that the full service carriers offer a complimentary onboard meal, but this too is being rationalised.

“As a larger proportion of seats are being sold in lower fare buckets, even the accumulation of frequent flyer points has diminished on full service carriers,” it said. “The convergence of low-cost carrier and full service carrier products in India has resulted in a growing acceptance of low cost carriers, even among corporate travellers,” it said. The exit of Kingfisher Airlines has aided to the shift of corporate travellers to low cost carriers.