<p>The domestic aviation space is all set to witness severe competition with the entry of AirAsia India, which starts operation from tomorrow.<br /><br /></p>.<p>AirAsia India, the Indian arm of the Malaysian no-frills airline headed by Tony Fernandes, will become the fourth budget carrier in the country -- after IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir -- once its maiden flight takes off from Bangalore to Goa at 1510 hours on Thursday.<br /><br />Besides these, the Naresh-Goyal promoted full service airline Jet Airways also operates a low-cost service JetLite.<br /><br />As of now among the domestic carriers, including full service ones, Rahul Bhatia-promoted IndiGo dominates the local market with 31.6 per cent share, followed by Jet Airways-JetLite combine with 21.8 per cent and Air India with 18.3 per cent, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation data for April traffic.<br /><br />While SpiceJet had a 17.9 per cent market share in April this year, GoAir had 9.5 per cent.<br />AirAsia India, whose top officials have promised to offer low and competitive airfares, will focus on connecting tier-II cities to begin with.<br /><br />"Our airlines' fares will be about 35 per cent lower than the current market rates," AirAsia India Chief Executive Mittu Chandilya had earlier said.<br /><br />The new entrant has already triggered the fare war by announcing fares as low as Rs 990 for its Bangalore-Goa and Bangalore-Chennai routes, forcing the rival carriers, including IndiGo to come out with matching fares.<br /><br />IndiGo also announced promotional fares for just Re 1 on the Bangalore, Chennai and Goa routes, taking on the competition from AirAsia India's Rs 5 fare (excluding airport tax and other applicable fees) offer and putting on sale over 25,000 promotional seats with travel period validity up to October 25.<br /><br />Leaping up the AirAsia India offer, the flyers rushed to book a seat at dream prices and the airline sold out the entire flight within 10 minutes of opening for sales.<br /><br />Not only this, 25,000 seats were also booked within 48 hours of the announcement.</p>
<p>The domestic aviation space is all set to witness severe competition with the entry of AirAsia India, which starts operation from tomorrow.<br /><br /></p>.<p>AirAsia India, the Indian arm of the Malaysian no-frills airline headed by Tony Fernandes, will become the fourth budget carrier in the country -- after IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir -- once its maiden flight takes off from Bangalore to Goa at 1510 hours on Thursday.<br /><br />Besides these, the Naresh-Goyal promoted full service airline Jet Airways also operates a low-cost service JetLite.<br /><br />As of now among the domestic carriers, including full service ones, Rahul Bhatia-promoted IndiGo dominates the local market with 31.6 per cent share, followed by Jet Airways-JetLite combine with 21.8 per cent and Air India with 18.3 per cent, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation data for April traffic.<br /><br />While SpiceJet had a 17.9 per cent market share in April this year, GoAir had 9.5 per cent.<br />AirAsia India, whose top officials have promised to offer low and competitive airfares, will focus on connecting tier-II cities to begin with.<br /><br />"Our airlines' fares will be about 35 per cent lower than the current market rates," AirAsia India Chief Executive Mittu Chandilya had earlier said.<br /><br />The new entrant has already triggered the fare war by announcing fares as low as Rs 990 for its Bangalore-Goa and Bangalore-Chennai routes, forcing the rival carriers, including IndiGo to come out with matching fares.<br /><br />IndiGo also announced promotional fares for just Re 1 on the Bangalore, Chennai and Goa routes, taking on the competition from AirAsia India's Rs 5 fare (excluding airport tax and other applicable fees) offer and putting on sale over 25,000 promotional seats with travel period validity up to October 25.<br /><br />Leaping up the AirAsia India offer, the flyers rushed to book a seat at dream prices and the airline sold out the entire flight within 10 minutes of opening for sales.<br /><br />Not only this, 25,000 seats were also booked within 48 hours of the announcement.</p>