INDIA: Strong Demand In Domestic Air Travel, Airlines Offering Huge Discounts

From IndiGo to SpiceJet to Jet Airways, airlines are offering big discounts on advance booking of tickets. India's biggest carrier IndiGo is offering tickets from Rs. 799 (all-inclusive) on travel between December 14, 2016, and October 28, 2017. IndiGo's Rs. 799 offer on domestic routes, for example, is applicable on Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore-Chennai. Tickets on Bengaluru-Hyderabad route starts from Rs. 999 and Delhi-Jaipur at Rs. 1,041, among others.

Full service carrier Jet Airways under its "Year End Sale" is offering tickets starting as low as Rs. 899 (all-inclusive) on economy class travel on select domestic routes.

Jet Airways said under the offer travel must commence on or after December 14, 2016, and tickets must be purchased a minimum of 15 days prior departure.

Another domestic carrier SpiceJet in its "Spicy Annual Sale" is offering all-inclusive fares starting at as low as Rs. 737 for travel on select domestic sectors. SpiceJet's offer is applicable on travel between January 9 and October 28, 2017.

The offers from SpiceJet, IndiGo and Jet Airways end tonight.

The promotional offers by airlines have helped spur a strong demand in domestic air travel. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January to October 2016 surged to 813.70 lakh, a growth of over 23 per cent over the same period last year.