On the heels of private airlines Kingfisher and Jet Airways revising fares, where flag carrier Air India on Friday said it too would hike fares with immediate effect, Air India Express, the low-cost carrier of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), is mulling a 10-15% fare hike during the festival season, AK Tirkey, Air India commercial manager responsible for eastern India business said here on Friday.
On the contrary, budget air carrier Deccan has rolled back its fare hike, barely 24-hours after it announced the rise on Thursday. ?We have decided to put on hold our earlier proposal to hike base fares by 10%,? a UB group official said. It is understood that the airline was forced to take this decision as its competitors were not effecting a hike in their airfares, despite the 2.8% increase in ATF.
Air India Express may not hike fares immediately following rise in ATF prices, but in October or November, he said. ?As demand remains in festival season, we hope the hike will not have much of an impact on us,? he said.. It however, did not specify the quantum of increase.
While Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan hiked base fares by 10% across the board, Jet Airways affected a 10% increase in its economy-class fares and a 5% increase in its business-class fares on domestic routes.
Kingfisher and Jet had on Thursday announced their decision to hike fares after state-run oil companies increased ATF prices by 2.8% on the back of a surge in global oil prices.