AirAsia India And Jet Airways Engage In Another Fare Duel

Tuesday, 23rd September 2014 at 04:41am

The rivalry between two unlike carriers proves that there's truth in the expression, 'Never the twain shall meet'.

In the commercial aviation industry it is quite rare, if not downright impossible, for two different airlines engage in such a nasty duel. For the record, AirAsia India is a low-cost carrier while Jet Airways is a legacy airline and it is easy to assume that they have their own captive market to deal with.

However, this assumption proves to be false with how AirAsia and Jet Airways treat each other.

Recently, Jet Airways initiated the war with its own low-fare promo offering tickets for as low as Rs.908 for routes that AirAsia India also operates.

Later in the day, AirAsia India unleashed a potent ammo by launching its own low-fare offer to counter Jet Airways' offer. Banking on its traditional all-inclusive low-fare model, AirAsia India dangled a much lower price tag at Rs.690.

What makes AirAsia India's ticket more attractive is that the tickets are valid for travel beyond the middle of January, the end of the validity period of Jet Airways' promo tickets.

Both airlines offered their promo fares for five identical routes originating from Bangalore. These include Goa, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kochi and Jaipur.

Jet Airways offered the all-inclusive low-fares until October 5 for travel before January 15, 2015 without giving more details as to the number of seats on offer.

AirAsia India, on the other hand, specifically announced that it was offering a total of 1.5 million seats across five routes from Bangalore with travel dates between January 15 and June 30, 2015. Tickets on three routes to Goa, Kochi and Chennai cost only Rs.690 while one-way tickets to Chandigarh and Jaipur only cost Rs.2,390.

It likewise launched promo fares to Kuala Lumpur from five Indian cities of Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Trichy, for Rs.4,999 and from Chennai to Bangkok for Rs.4,500.

The constant promo offers by different local airlines on domestic routes sparked air travel demand in India albeit at a modest rate, at 5.31%, to more than 43 million.

By: Pete Lee.