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India Airlines Slashes Promotional Fares to South-East Asia
In a clear indication that the fare war is hotting up in the Southeast Asian sector, the Indian Airlines has further reduced their fares from Chennai to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The new uniform return fare of Rs 10,475 will be effective between June 1 and June 30, 2005.
The offer is a revision of the earlier promotional fare of Rs 10,700 announced on May 19. The second offer announced in a span of 13 days, it is supposed to have come after restructuring commissions and other perks to the travel and tourism industry.
However, the main idea seems to be to lure more travellers into the fold of Indian Airlines during the peak season.
As the fares are common-rated passengers from Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and from Trivandrum, Cochin, Calicut in Kerala can benefit from the offer because the domestic leg of the travel to Chennai is offered free of cost.
This was because travellers who book the offer fares from these domestic destinations have to come to Chennai to fly to South-East Asia.
Also, a traveller can combine the three destinations according to his convenience if he is ready to bear the expenses incurred on travelling between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, sources said.
"A passenger can fly from Chennai to Singapore and travel to Kuala Lumpur by surface by spending approximately Rs 900 and return to India from Kuala Lumpur using the same ticket. Similarly, passengers can fly out of Chennai to Bangkok, take a local flight from Bangkok to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur paying approximately Rs 4,500 and return to India using the same promotional fare of Rs 10,475 from either of the destinations," sources said.
For those who wish to combine the three countries can fly from Chennai to Bangkok, then take a local flight to Kuala Lumpur and then travel to Singapore by surface. In this case, they can return home from Singapore.
An official said that the new fare would supersede the earlier fare of Rs 10,700 announced on May 19 even though the validity of the latter fare was yet to be over.
He said that the special promotional fares are also offered in association with Singapore Tourism Promotional Council and Malaysia Tourism so that the tour packages could be linked with the new fares.
Sources said that the new fares would enable tour operators to offer attractive packages at reduced rates. For example a three-night package offered by Malaysia Tourism Board will cost just Rs 14,999 because it was linked with the IA promotional fare.
Chennai, India 2005-06-01
