Budget airline SpiceJet on Thursday morning launched a three-day long discounted one-way fare scheme -- starting from Rs.799 to Rs. 2,699 -- valid on more than 100,000 seats (excluding taxes) in order to lure more passengers during the upcoming festive season.
Flight bookings spiraled after SpiceJet and Jet Airways, which cater to more than one-third domestic fliers in India, announced flash sales offering one-way economy class tickets with fares cheaper than sleeper class overnight train rides.
While the Jet Airways offer was restricted to travel period between August 29 and October 15, SpiceJet said it has put on block one lakh seats for the travel period between August 25 and March 26, 2016. The scheme will be available from August 20 to August 22 midnight.
According to a statement issued by SpiceJet, the sale ranging between Rs. 799 and Rs. 2699 (excluding taxes) offered flights on several routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Goa, Bengaluru-Kochi, Madurai-Chennai, Jammu-Srinagar and Kolkata-Agartala as well as tourist hubs such as Goa and Srinagar.
Under the new discount scheme, single one-way fare between Delhi and Mumbai or Mumbai and Chennai will work out at Rs.1,899 (excluding taxes). With taxes, the fare on these routes will stand at Rs. 2,999 for one-way ticket. Similarly, for Mumbai-Kolkata, the complete fare including taxes stand at Rs 3,799 for one-way.
To sweeten the deal further, the airline is also offering 10% additional discount to those passengers who are booking through SpiceJet's mobile App on Apples iOS and Android platforms.
However, the airline added that the tickets under the offer are non-refundable -- only taxes and fees are refundable.
The Jet Airways spokesperson did not comment on its sale, but at least two travel portals displayed the sale offer on their respective websites.
Sharat Dhall, the president of travel portal Yatra.com, said: "The three-day sale is an attempt to win over travellers by giving an extremely attractive offer and stimulate advance bookings for the upcoming long weekends in September and October and the entire festive season. Within hours of the sale announcement bookings have increased by more 300% over what we normally receive."
He added that mobile bookings rose by 478%. "We envisage that other airlines will follow suit pretty soon and come forward with attractive offers of their own."
(With inputs from IANS)
