As rail fares have been hiked, airfares are heading southwards owing to intense competition among airlines which is leading to frequent promotional offers by carriers.
Low-cost carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet have been facing challenge from new airline AirAsia India; so, it has started offering cheaper lucrative promotional fares than Air Asia that have come as a bonanza for passengers both this summer and beyond.
Air Costa on Friday announced special offer fares for flights during the period between July 3 and August 31, 2014. The offer is valid for bookings made in between June 20 to June 23 on select sectors.
Although likably cheap fares are being offered as part of the promotional fares that can give the train-fares tough competition and a comfortable run for their money, regular air-fares including spot fares are still considerably higher than all-inclusive train fares in the second AC category although the gap has been narrowed.
However the difference is that while the rail-fare is government-controlled, the air-fares are decided purely by the market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be given an all-inclusive briefing by the civil aviation ministry on Saturday on all issues affecting the aviation sector which also includes the financial health of the sector.
Indeed, just recently aviation market leader IndiGo had divulged a round of all-inclusive one-way promotional fares that saw the Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Chennai sectors at about Rs 3,000.