Kingfisher Airlines dead on ground, Air India may join Jet Airways, SpiceJet airfare price war
Through this measure, they said Jet was seeking to attract passengers away from its rivals and raise an immediate cash buffer of about Rs 400 crore.
Asked whether the DGCA would warn airlines against indulging in predatory pricing of air tickets as it had done when Kalanithi Maran-owned SpiceJet had offered ten lakh seats at Rs 2,013 for a limited period, the Minister merely said the fares would not be regulated and made more transparent.
After the SpiceJet move to slash fares last month, the aviation regulator had urged other airlines not to follow suit as such a practice could be harmful to their financial bottomline that was already in trouble.
The industry sources also said the Jet offer of 20 lakh seats at low prices for travel till December 31 may not be bought entirely as people don't plan way into the future.
This had also happened with SpiceJet which could sell only about 40 per cent of the ten lakh seats it had offered, they claimed and added that the current fare war could last only till February 24 as long as Jet offer lasts.
The industry sources said the high airfares throughout last year, caused primarily by the grounding of Kingfisher Airlines, had led a substantial chunk of passengers to opt out of air travel.
This had led to negative growth in traffic for the first time since 2009. But the recent low fare
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