Passengers Win As Airlines Go For Heavy Discounts, More Flying Options

<p><em>New airlines Vistara, Air Asia keeps adding new routes, while established players Jet, SpiceJet offer price cuts, services, writes <strong>C H Unnikrishnan</strong></em><br><br>Passengers are the winners now in the Indian aviation market with offers raining from airlines. Low fare carrier SpiceJet has joined the bandwagon after Jet Airways and Indigo to offer promotional rates and heavy discounts. While, newly started airlines Vistara and Air Asia continued expanding their domestic routes connecting premium destinations providing the passenger more flying options.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>SpiceJet,has on Monday (6 July) announced the launch of a ‘Red Hot Fares’ sale focused exclusively on its western and southern domestic network. These fares start from Rs 1,899 all-in for routes including&nbsp; Mumbai-Goa, Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Bangalore-Hyderabad, Chennai-Bangalore, Pune-Bangalore. The three day sale will remain open till July 08 and the travel period covered in this sale is 15th July to 30th September 2015, said a SpiceJet release on Monday. The offer is valid for direct as well as&nbsp; connecting flights on the selected routes, it added.<br><br>India's aviation sector, which has been under financial stress and regulatory glitches, has of late shown improvement in financial performance and the market has also seen a lot of traction. With new players expanding their routes, passengers are getting lot more options on pricing as well as better connectivity. While, established airlines including Indigo, Jet and GoAir&nbsp; offering a bouquet of enhanced services and price discounts.<br><br>The new full service carrier Vistara, promoted by Tata group and Singapore Airlines, had last month added two daily flights connecting Bengaluru to New Delhi and Mumbai.&nbsp; As India’s most popular business destination, Bengaluru is a natural extension to Vistara’s growing network and it is the second destination for the new airline in South India after Hyderabad, and the tenth destination overall since it commenced operations in January this year.&nbsp; Vistara's network currently offers 237 weekly frequencies connecting Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Goa, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.<br><br>While, the country's oldest private airline and second largest full service carrier Jet Airways had a couple of weeks ago tied up with Vietnam Airlines to extend its frequent flyer programme --JetPrevilige. The airline's chief executive officer Cramer Ball had said in a last week interview that it will have many more such partnership with international players for JetPrevilige programme as well as code sharing. Jet already have multiple&nbsp; partnerships with international airlines, including the ones with its equity partner Etihad Airways, in these fronts.<br><br>India's new low fare airline, AirAsia-- a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysia's Air Asia Berhad, had also in June announced a big sale offer throughout the airline’s extensive route network.<br><br>With this, AirAsia India offered all-inclusive one way fare from as low as Rs 799 for flights from Bengaluru to Kochi, Rs 999 from Bengaluru to Goa, Pune and ishakapatnam, Rs 1599 from Bengaluru to Jaipur, Rs 1799 from Bengaluru to Chandigarh, Rs 1999 from New Delhi to Bengaluru and Goa, Rs 1799 from New Delhi to Guwahati&nbsp; and vice versa.<br><br>&nbsp;“We are absolutely delighted to announce Big Sale which will allow guests to plan their travel well ahead of time.&nbsp; Big Sale is available across our network and with this promotional offer we hope to see more people planning their holidays for next year," said Air Asia India's chief executive Mittu Chandilya.<br><br>AirAsia had also added a new flight from Imphal to its network of destinations in June, making its total route network in India&nbsp; to&nbsp; 11.&nbsp; Air Asia, a joint venture with Air Asia Berhad with 49 per cent stake and Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace and holding 30 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.<br><br>SpiceJet, which has got a fresh lease of life after original promoter Ajay Singh back to the board, had also made a similar offer in June for international routes. With this,&nbsp; the airline had Following close on heels with its new brand image SpiceJet is turning really hot this monsoon announcing its international travel sale. The airline is had offered some 50000 seats at red hot fares for select international sectors under which the all inclusive&nbsp; one-way fares ranged from a minimum of Rs. 3099 to Rs. 5599 for some very popular destinations as Colombo, Bangkok, Dubai, Male, Muscat etc.&nbsp; The sale schedule was also strategically sketched to the advantage of its frequent flyers.&nbsp; The four day sale was launched on 16th June to&nbsp; June 20 and the travel period covered in this sale is 1st July&nbsp; to 31st October.<br><br>&nbsp;“We are getting Red, Hot and Spicy and as we get there we want our customers to really connect with the brand values that SpiceJet stands for. We expect the brand’s sheer vibrancy and energy to be transmitted effectively to the very heart of our customers thereby strengthening our customer bonding further. We are extremely bullish for this sale gesture to be admired by our guests given its unmatched value and benefits.” said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief operating officer, SpiceJet.<br><br>Vistara, which is keen to scale up in the domestic market, may be in the international routes too at the earliest, is now connecting all the premium destinations in India.<br><br>&nbsp;“Bengaluru, as the third most populous city in India and the top destination for IT (information technology) exports from the country, is naturally the most visited city in India for business travel and offers ample potential for Vistara." said Vistara chief executive officer Phee Teik Yeoh. &nbsp;<br><br>&nbsp;"We are very pleased to connect India’s IT capital to its national capital New Delhi and commercial capital Mumbai. We look forward to serving a wider customer base on these routes and offering them a chance to experience Vistara’s seamless, thoughtful and personalised service," he said on the new route expansion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>In the first five months of commercial operations, Vistara has already flown more than 300,000 customers and has delivered one of the highest on-time performance - in excess of 96 per cent&nbsp; month on month since February, claimed a recently statement from Vistara. Its&nbsp; offerings including premium economy class,&nbsp; the frequent flyer program --Club Vistara,&nbsp; the in-flight menu&nbsp; and&nbsp; in-flight entertainment system with wireless streaming also adds value to the passenger's experience, it added.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>"In the coming months, customers can expect a wider choice of destinations, more frequencies and new offerings added to Vistara’s product and services portfolio such as more strategic partnerships and a&nbsp; signature lounge at the&nbsp; New Delhi airport," the airline said .<br><br>Vistara, owned by TATA SIA Airlines Ltd,&nbsp; a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons Ltd and Singapore Airlines Ltd, commenced its commercial operations on January 9 this year.<br><br>While, India's largest full service airline Jet Airways'&nbsp; frequent flyer programme --JetPrivilege signed&nbsp; a reciprocal frequent flyer partnership with Vietnam Airlines in June to provide enhanced connectivity for JetPrivilege members with the opportunity to earn and redeem JPMiles across Vietnam Airlines' network on destinations like Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Phnom Penh, Hanoi via Bangkok and Singapore.&nbsp; Similarly members of Vietnam Airlines' Golden Lotus Plus programme can also earn and redeem their miles across Jet Airways’ network.<br><br>&nbsp;“We are delighted to partner with Vietnam Airlines. We have constantly endeavoured to offer our JetPrivilege members a wholesome flying experience across the globe," said Manish Dureja, managing director, JetPrivilege in a recent statement. &nbsp;<br><br>&nbsp;</p>