SpiceJet says no cut in air fares in near future

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet Ltd has no plans to cut air fares in the near future unless there is a "significant" fall in fuel prices
or rise in passenger traffic, its chief executive said on Wednesday. SpiceJet expects jet-fuel prices, which make up the bulk of a carrier's operating cost, to rise by 25 percent in the next six months, and said will use the current period of low fuel prices to cover earlier losses when they were high.

"We cannot afford to look at cut in fare now. It is hitting the right balance," Sanjay Aggarwal told a news conference, adding that current prices were helping the airline "improve its bottom line". "We expect up to 25 percent increase in aviation turbine fuel prices in next six months but at the current fare level we hope to break even in next one year," he said. SpiceJet, along with other carriers had cut prices in December in a bid to jump start a weakening air-travel market, but reversed the reductions in less than two months as the initiative failed to significantly boost traffic.

Analysts have said carriers cannot afford to engage in a price war and had in December noted that deep cuts in fares were unsustainable, a view most airlines have come around to. SpiceJet's load factor stood close to 70 percent and an average ticket retailed at 4,000 rupees, Aggarwal said. "Although bookings are down by 20-25 percent but per flight earnings have improved by 17 percent compared to early January," he said.

Five budget carriers, including SpiceJet, and three full service airlines operate in India, which was a boom market until the global financial crisis hit the economy last year. SpiceJet expects to have cornered 12 percent of the domestic market by February, from about 7.8 per cent in October last year, Aggarwal said, helped by better fares and improving services.

It will consider launching international flights to cities in South Asia and the Middle East in 2010, when it will be allowed to fly overseas and plans to add five more planes to its fleet by March that year. Shares in SpiceJet were marginally down at 14.36 rupees in a Mumbai market that was up nearly 1 percent.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

special Valentine fares to Singapore and Hong Kong from Mumbai, with immediate effect by Jet Airways

Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has introduced special Valentine fares to Singapore and Hong Kong from Mumbai, with immediate effect.*

The special Valentine fares will entail a 30% discount on base return Economy Class and Première fares on these sectors.**

The offer is applicable for those passengers who complete their ticket purchase by February 18, 2009, and commence outbound travel on the Mumbai-Singapore sector between 18-19 February, 2009 and 23-27 February, 2009.

Passengers travelling on the Mumbai-Hong Kong sector must complete their ticket purchase by February 18, 2009, and commence outbound travel between 18-21 February, 2009 and 23-27 February, 2009.

Jet Airways operates daily, direct flights to Singapore and Hong Kong, aboard state-of-the-art wide-body Airbus 330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft respectively.

source:prurgent.com

Air India Express set to expand network

Air India Express has inducted another B737-800 aircraft today thus increasing the fleet size to 21 aircraft, including seven leased aircraft. The new aircraft inducted in the fleet today has ‘shikara on the Dal Lake in Kashmir’ on one side of the tail and an ‘image of a large expanse of the Rajasthan Desert’ on the other side. The tail designs are an innovative and novel feature of the Air India Express fleet. Each of the aircraft showcases the picturesque landscapes, monuments, birds, animals, handicraft and dances of India on both sides of the tail.

With the induction of the new aircraft, Air India Express will further expand its operations. Air India Express will launch its once a week flight to Dubai from Srinagar with this new aircraft with effect from February 14, 2009. This will mark the commencement of international flights from the new Srinagar International Airport Terminal. Air India Express is also proposing to increase frequency on the Chennai-Trichy-Dubai route from three flights a week to seven flights a week and the existing flights on the Chennai-Hyderabad-Dubai route from three to four flights a week. Air India Express will also increase the frequency of its flights from three to six flights a week on the Trichy-Kuala Lumpur sector.

Air India Express, India’s first international budget carrier, commenced operations on April 29, 2005, and today operates 176 weekly flights between 16 Indian cities viz. Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Delhi, Amritsar, Mangalore, Chennai, Tiruchirapally, Nagpur, Kolkota, Jaipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune and 14 International cities on the network, which are Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, Muscat, Salalah, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, Dhaka and Colombo.
Source://prdomain.com