Airlines bestow discount fair to attract flyers

A day after budget passenger carrier SpiceJet announced its discount scheme, full service airline Jet Airways launched its special fare offer starting at Rs.4,459.

The airline's offer is valid for return journey in economy class on flights operated by Jet Airways. The offer is for bookings till March 31, for travel period on or before March 31, 2015.

On Wednesday, cash-strapped budget passenger carrier SpiceJet launched its discount scheme starting at Rs.1,499 for one way advance booking on all direct flights.

The airline offered 500,000 seats through its discount scheme. The company said that the scheme can be availed by booking tickets from Jan 28 to Jan 30 for travel between Feb 15 and June 30, 2015.

The scheme is valid on all direct flights on SpiceJet's domestic network.
SpiceJet said that such offers are an integral part of the LCC (low cost carrier) pricing model. The offers are meant to sell in advance at attractive prices seats that would otherwise be expected to go empty, thereby improving revenues.

"Unlike a bar of soap that can be put back on the shelf and sold later, an airline seat is the ultimate perishable commodity. Once the aircraft takes off, that empty seat's revenue is lost forever," said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief operating officer, SpiceJet.

According to industry analysts, other airlines may follow suite to fill up seats during the lean season.