It can cost you as much as Rs 14,000 for a single trip on the Delhi-Mumbai sector on a budget airline flight and Rs 53,000 on a full service carrier flight if you book a day before travel
Even in the midst of domestic airlines screaming 'deep discounts on fares', plane tickets booked a day before travel are flying high.
For budget airlines it can soar as high as Rs 14,000 per person for a single trip from New Delhi to Mumbai and seats on a full-service carrier can cost as much as Rs 53,000 per passenger.
These were the fares, when this scribe tried to book a single seat on Thursday evening for Friday's travel. In the no-frill segment, the highest fare thrown up was Rs 14,075 (all fees and charges included) for a SpiceJet flight that departed at 20.30 hour. In the full-service segment, Jet Airways flight at 19.00 hour, with one stop, was costing Rs 53193 (all fees and charges included). And these flights were fast filling up with only few seats left.
The lowest fare for the day was that of the 8-am Air India flight at Rs 7,777 (all fees and charges included).
So, if you are looking to grab the Rs 599, Rs 1,299 or even Rs 1,499 fares, the chances would be dim, unless you act fast. That's what the marketing trick of "come hither fares" is all about – surround the consumers with the buzz about cheap fares and get him into flying.
Pankaj Pandit, a Bangalore-based aviation analyst, said these are very common overseas and are used by airlines to lure consumers to fly instead taking any other mode of transport.
"These are come-hither fares to attract passengers by creating a buzz about it. They offer only few seats at those fares but once you go on to the portal or the airport you end up buying tickets. Some of these no-frill airlines abroad offer fares that are lower than your taxi fare to the airport," he said.
Pandit said with air passenger traffic growing at 18-20% year-on-year (YoY) and jet fuel prices easing, the airlines are in a sweet spot and such marketing gimmicks will only help turnaround faster by spurring air travel.
He said at the prevailing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, break-even load factor for most airlines has come down from around 80% previously to around 70%.
"It's the best time for the airlines with low jet fuel price, healthy air passenger traffic growth and restraint capacity additions. All these make come-hither fares, if offered in controlled numbers, sustainable," he said.
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