BackAirlines lure passengers with frills to beat lean season
Airlines are offering freebies like wireless streaming services on board, free refreshments and even a guarantee of flying in case of flight delays
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Mumbai: With lean holiday season round the corner, domestic airlines are wooing passengers with frills such as wireless streaming services on board, free refreshments and even a guarantee of flying in case of flight delays.
February to April is considered the lean season for domestic flying before the peak of May to July when schools close for summer vacations. India’s local airlines carried 81.09 million passengers in calendar year 2015, as against 67.38 million in the previous year, registering a growth of 20.34%, owing to low fares and more flights.
In order to maintain the momentum of passenger growth, airlines are now stepping up efforts to woo passengers. Jet Airways (India) Ltd has announced an in-flight entertainment (IFE) streaming service that enables wireless streaming of movies, TV programmes and music directly on to passengers’ Wi-Fi-enabled personal devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops. India’s second largest airline by passengers carried has further plans to upgrade from a streaming service to a full broadband satellite connectivity in the future (subject to regulatory approvals), allowing passengers to enjoy Internet services such as surfing and instant messaging, and get information on connecting flights, real-time travel services and destination deals.
On the other hand, India’s second largest low-fare airline SpiceJet Ltd is offering guarantee of flying in the event of flight delays. SpiceJet has announced a ‘Fly For Sure’ scheme that entitles a passenger booked on its airline a guarantee of flying in the next 24 hours in case of a flight delay beyond 90 minutes, missing a flight (no-show) not exceeding 30 minutes from airport check-in closure of the original flight or a flight cancellation by the airline.
Passengers can purchase this add-on product at ₹ 299 (all-inclusive) while booking for the flight and SpiceJet will reimburse the passenger for an alternate flight ticket (not exceeding double the price of the original ticket or the cost of the second ticket, whichever is lower) on the airline of their choice in the same sector of the original booking within 24 hours of the original scheduled booking with SpiceJet.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, between January and December 2015, flight disruptions formed a huge chunk of passenger complaints, at an average of 27.3%. The number of passengers affected by cancellations were 116,645, while 731,637 passengers faced delays and 13,175 passengers were denied boarding across airlines in the same period.
Meanwhile, regional airline Air Costa Aviation Pvt. Ltd has gone ahead to offer free refreshments on board. Air Costa announced “refresh month", complimentary snacks on board for all passengers on limited flights on its network. This complimentary offer is applicable on Vijaywada-Bengaluru, Vijaywada-Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad sectors in February.
Another regional airline firm Air Pegasus (Decor Aviation Pvt. Ltd) has launched a promotional offer for the lean season. It is offering one-way fares starting at just ₹ 999 and a round trip at ₹ 1,998 for the travel period February-April 2016.
Airlines are offering discounted fares, too. For instance, last week SpiceJet had cut domestic base fares to as low as ₹ 826 and overseas base fares starting at ₹ 3,026 for a limited period for travelling between February and April.
India’s largest airline by passengers carried IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, too launched a similar offer.
Travel agents are expecting similar promotional fares to stimulate the market in the coming days.
India’s airlines are expected to post combined losses of $350 million for the year ending 31 March 2016, down from the $500-550 million forecast in October, according to an outlook report released by consulting firm Capa India on Thursday. The estimates assume that oil prices will remain low and that the currency will remain stable.
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