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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
22 July, 2005: In an attempt to lower airfares by 20 per cent to 70 per cent, Air Sahara has launched a fare bucket scheme, abandoning its existing advance purchase scheme. The new system called 'Solar Fares' will do away with restrictions relating to advance purchase as well as those imposed during cancellation of Apex tickets.
"We are introducing this new fare structure replacing the Apex and last-minute fare schemes. This enables a passenger to purchase a ticket for any flight and get a major discount, provided seats on the low fare buckets are available," Air Sahara's executive vice president Alok Sharma said.
Air Sahara is introducing seven levels of fares, including the normal fare. Besides lowering fares purchased in rupees, the dollar fare would also be lowered by 20 per cent to 60 per cent.
At the lowest level, a Delhi-Mumbai or Delhi-Kolkata ticket will cost Rs 3,333 while a Delhi-Bangalore ticket will cost Rs 3,555. The discounted fare varies from 20 per cent to 70 per cent in Indian rupees, while that in dollar terms will offer 20 per cent to 60 per cent discounts.
On the Delhi-Chennai route, the lowest fare would be Rs 4,999 as against the normal fare of Rs 13,210 and on Delhi-Bangalore, the lowest fare would be Rs 3,555 as against Rs 12,830.
The new scheme would encourage more travellers to fly and the resulting higher load factor will offset the fuel price hike, Sharma said.
"Booking in advance will not be required any more. There will be no barrier on dates and no advance purchases will be required," he said.
Air Sahara has also relaxed cancellation rules. The refund charge will be Rs 500 if cancellation is done one hour before departure. However, in case of a no show, only the taxes are refunded and for change of date, Rs 500 will be charged.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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