Air India’s resumption of services after the 58-day strike will trigger price correction, say industry pundits.
With the Air India pilots ending their 58-day strike on Wednesday, travel agents and industry believe it would soon trigger a price war over air fares, especially on the international routes.
Air India has a history of offering huge discounts every time it has resumed services post-strike.
Industry insiders recalled how competitors, both Indian and foreign, of the national carrier have been exploiting the market situation by jacking up their fares ever since the pilots’ stir grounded the Air India fleet back in May. Not only has the stir hit Air India’s market share, but also pushed the passengers at the doors of the ‘costly’ airlines, which have been making passengers pay through their nose. One indication here is from the fact that air fares are refusing to climb down despite it being off-season.
“An intense competition among airlines over air fares is highly expected in coming days. Air India will try to make all effort to attract passengers, especially so after the dent in its image due to the strike,” says Iqbal Mulla, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).
Industry insiders pointed out the national carrier, which has seen dozens of strikes-big and small-since its inception post-Independence, has offered discounts of up to 20-30% while getting back into business. “The strike history in erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines (Both the entities were merged as Air India few years ago) is long, and we expect Air India to follow a similar trend even now,” said Rahul Pathak, of Sai tours and travels from Andheri.
Sources said, Air India will restart its booking for the international airlines from July-end or latest by August first week. “The booking might start late, as it might take around two months for the airline to get fully operational,” said a senior airline executive.
Since March, the Air India management has been operating on contingency plan and reduced the flight operations from 45 services to just 37 on its international routes. The carrier has, so far, lost over Rs530 crore due to the strike.
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