Passengers travelling by air on domestic routes will have to shell out more money as major airlines, including state-owned Indian have increased fares.
BANGALORE: Airfares are set to fly with the onset of peak season (mid-September to mid-January), and the process has been kicked off by the leading player in the industry - Jet Airways.
The full service carrier has increased its minimum average fares by Rs200 and coupon fares by Rs500 across all sectors. The hike would be implemented on all flights between September 6 and September 10 and would be effective through the peak season.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said the airline is raising the fares as part of it revenue optimisation plan. #He, however, admits that Jet’s move to shift to higher fares is supported by peak season demand.
Budget airline SpiceJet Ltd CEO and executive chairman Siddhanta Sharma is also expecting fares go up. He, however, did not specify the exact amount and said it would be a function of demand. “It (average fares) will definitely shoot up and our yields would be better in the coming few months,” said Sharma.
Last year, the no-frill airline’s average October fares had climbed 10% compared to average September fares. It had dipped again in November to September level and then moved up by 20% (against September fares).
Sharma said a similar trend could follow this year too. Currently, SpiceJet’s basic average fares range between Rs1,200 and Rs1,300. This means its price jump could be between Rs 120 and Rs260 during peak season.
GoAir will also fine tune fares to be in sync with the market trend. ”Our fares are driven by the market. That means, we price it according to what our competitors do,” said managing director Jeh Wadia.
Rival IndiGo has not taken a decision on revision its fares. “We will evaluate and decide,” said IndiGo president & CEO Bruce Ashby.
Like SpiceJet, full service carrier Kingfisher Airline also sees its sales of ticket in higher fare bucket swell. This will automatically push up the average fares. “As peak season demand picks up, fares will also spiral,” said Kingfisher Airlines general manager – sales Monaj Chacko.
Interestingly, low cost airline Air Deccan will be is defying the peak season fare rise.
On Friday, it announced special fares on two lakh tickets for travel between September 20 and October 31 (part of period).
Despite the discount offer, an Air Deccan spokesperson said average prices would be higher than lean season.
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