Following the lead of SpiceJet, the Air India airline has also slashed its air fares up to 30%. Similar to SpiceJet, on 26th February (Wednesday), the airline announced 30% discounts on fares for travel between March 29 and September 30. The discount offered by the airline, spread across 115 flights operated in India is applicable only on selected domestic as well as the domestic leg of international flights.

As per the offer conditions* mentioned by the airlines, the bookings need have to be made between February 27 and March 1. Fares under this discount scheme, start from as low as Rs. 1,586 for Goa to Mumbai, Rs. 1,889 for Delhi to Lucknow, Rs. 3,470 for Mumbai to Kolkata and Rs. 2,557 for Trivandrum to Mumbai, *exclusive of taxes.

Early on Monday (24 February), the low-cost carrier SpiceJet had generated a price war by offering up to 75% off on base fare and fuel surcharge relative to last minute fares, for tour and travel between April 1 and June 30, which was applicable for bookings made till February 27. In addition, other low-cost carriers such as IndiGo and GoAir immediately announced similar schemes on flight booking. It is to be noted that it is the third time the Chennai-based airline announced discounted fare in the last two months.

Similarly, Jet Airways, another low cost carrier entered into the price war only on Tuesday (25th February) as it launched a three-day sale of 60 days and 30 day apex fares on domestic flights, managed by Jet Airways and JetLite. However, this offer is valid from March 27 to September 30, 2014.

“It seems that airline operators are looking to fill their seats, which are currently running below the optimal capacity. Moreover, it has been observed that demand for air tickets to key leisure destinations such as Goa and Kerala have enormously increased after the announcement of the discount offers.

“Our website has witnessed a huge of visitors and we sold more than 25,000 tickets during this four day offer. Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to Bangalore, Mumbai to Bangalore continue to be the top-selling routes, while the leisure destinations such as Goa, Kerala and Srinagar have also seen a big sale,” said Mr. Nishant Pitti, Founder of EaseMyTrip.com.

Adding to that, Mr. Rikant Pitti, Co-founder of EaseMyTrip said that these kinds of offers have surely fuelled summer-holiday breaks for larger groups (such as families & friends). As the booking proportion is higher in group as compared to individual-passenger bookings. A higher proportion of round trip bookings indicated business travel and planned leisure trips, he added.