Five airlines launch another discount sale

In a bid to enhance off-season bookings, five private airlines on Thursday launched another discount sale within a week for fliers during the lean season.

Like the previous one, SpiceJet was the first to go off the block announcing a “Second Chance” sale for those who “missed the Super Sale” last week. IndiGo, Jet Airways, JetKonnect and GoAir portals followed it.

The new offer comes after the overwhelming success of the Super Sale offer. This new offer is live until Sunday midnight, SpiceJet said in a statement.

Under the offer, all customers can get a 30 per cent discount on the already discounted 30-day advance purchase base fare and fuel surcharge for SpiceJet domestic flights.
According to the airline, the Delhi-Mumbai fare, which is otherwise Rs 10,098 all-inclusive, for last minute purchase can be booked for as little as Rs 3,617 all-inclusive.

Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer of SpiceJet, said there has been a deluge of requests to repeat the offer from those who missed it the first time. “These offers are a win-win for customers and for the airlines, since it leads to significant demand stimulation, customers get to enjoy deeply discounted fares, and airlines get to reduce wastage of seats that would otherwise fly empty in low season,” he said.

“Travellers who missed booking discounted airfares last week now have reason to cheer. This time the sale is only for travel on weekdays, Monday to Thursday,” Rajesh Magow, co-founder and CEO-India of MakeMyTrip, said.

Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com, said the discounted airfare scheme is an extension of their effort to leverage on advance bookings. “Since, this is particularly a lean season for travel, airlines are offering such competitive prices to make sure that they have good load factors in March and early April,” he said.

Fliers back and forth to Bangalore had grabbed the big discounts offered by various airlines in the previous week with bookings witnessing a surge of up to 817 per cent, compared to discount-free days.