The domestic airlines in the state appear to have been caught in the vicious circle of global meltdown and countrywide recession in the airline industry. The festive season, which has been traditionally known to generate good business, has also apparently failed the industry this time round. This has prompted some of the airlines to adopt measures, different in their own ways, to minimise the impact of the current decline. While Jet Airways recently introduced the concept of ‘advanced purchase fares’, offering discounted fares for people flying from the city to Delhi and Mumbai, Kingfisher Airlines has increased the fares on the same route.Among the domestic routes, maximum air traffic is found on the Chandigarh-Delhi and Chandigarh-Mumbai routes.“Keeping in view the present minimal traffic from Chandigarh to Delhi and Mumbai, the airline has introduced the concept of ‘advanced purchase fares’. These are special fares at concession rates for those travellers who book the tickets eight to fifteen days in advance,” said a senior official with Jet Airways in the city branch, Sector 9.The official added, “It is surprising that even during Diwali, the passenger traffic is very low.”The advance purchase fare by Jet Airways for Chandigarh-Delhi offers the benefit of reduced basic fare from Rs 1,100 to 800 if the ticket is booked 15 days in advance. Similarly, for the normal fare of Rs 3,400, a Chandigarh-Mumbai passenger will have to pay Rs 2,350 for a 15-day advance booking and Rs 2,850 for an 8-day advance purchase.In an entirely different move, Kingfisher Airlines has increased the fares, marginally, on these two routes only. While on the Chandigarh-Delhi route, the fare has been increased from Rs 3,820 to 3,880, the Chandigarh-Mumbai route has seen an increase from Rs 7,295 to Rs 7,350.“The airline has been facing low occupancy of flights on the Delhi and Mumbai routes for quite some time. For Mumbai, the passenger rate is even less than 50 per cent as an aircraft with a 130-passenger capacity is hardly ferrying 60 passengers. Even today, there were only 45 passengers,” said Gurpreet Kaur, supervisor, Reservations and Ticketing, with Kingfisher Airlines.
