June 29,2014: September to December season is approaching and airlines are putting in strategies to take advantage of the season to boost their business. The two most proactive players, Indigo and SpiceJet have already taken the lead announcing discounts to attract people for doing advance booking during the season. The arrival of low cost airline Air Asia could be another reason behind some of the recent aggressively priced packages announced by the airlines in India.
Makemytrip showed that one of the most popular season route Delhi now costs only Rs 1999 for one way, as against its usual seasonal spot rate of Rs 11000. These sharp discounts will allow people to plan for Pooja holidays as well as their post October family breaks. It may be recalled that SpiceJet had announced 50% discount and then a Rupee 1 fare scheme which didnt go well with the regulators who thought it is some kind of predatory pricing.
However these rates could further impact the margins, SpiceJet has already reported whopping losses of close to Rs 1000 crore. Still they have pretty good fill rates of 81% closely behind Indigo, who had 82% in June. Jet Airways has been losing their share continuously. Hope this new festival season could bring in loads and turnover for these struggling airlines in India to fight for another year.
