Airlines offer agents 'perks' as competition intensifies on India-Singapore route

Airlines are offering them free tickets, extra commission among other such alluring schemes

Airlines are luring agents with free tickets and extra bonuses in addition to regular commission as competition heats up on the India-Singapore route.

Singapore Airlines is launching its Airbus A380 flights to Mumbai and Delhi from May-end and is offering agents in the two cities free tickets for selling maximum seats on the super jumbo flights. Jet Airways is giving a ten per cent additional incentive to agents for selling its business class seats to Singapore. This incentive is in addition to the regular commission which it pays agents.

Earlier this month, Air India also launched special economy and business class fares to Singapore and plans to operate its Boeing 787 between Mumbai-Singapore. Currently however, the national carrier flies one stop via Chennai and hence, is not the first choice of travellers from Mumbai.

Singapore Airlines is also offering its first-class passengers a night’s free stay in Singapore hotels and members of its premium class, rewards such as extra miles and discounts on purchasing tickets on A380 flights.

Industry sources say the demand for premium traffic on the route has shown a dip over the last few years and yields too have fallen. With Singapore Airlines launching new products, competition has intensified.

“Our focus has been to offer good value proposition to our customers. We want to reward both, agents and customers,” said Singapore Airlines’ general manager (India) David Lau, adding the airline was expecting strong, single-digit growth from India after the introduction of Airbus A380 flights. The airline has rationalised capacity on Mumbai and Delhi and will operate two daily flights, including a A380 operation, instead of three daily services which it does now.

Singapore Airlines, which carries about 35-40 per cent of passengers, is impacted by the seasonal nature of the Indian air travel market. Thus, while April-May is a good season for outbound travel from India, the inbound load is less. In June-July, outbound leisure travel drops but holiday travel increases in Australia and New Zealand, increasing occupancy on inbound flights to India.

Currently, the airline flies a mix of Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 to Mumbai and Delhi, with 266-284 seats in two-and three-class configurations. The airline is clubbing two Boeing 777-300 operated flights (eight first class, 42/50 business class and 226/228 economy seats) with an Airbus A380 flight. The Airbus A380 can seat 471 passengers in a three-class configuration (12 first-class suites, 60 business class and 399 economy class seats).

“We want to see how the market develops over the next few months. We launched a third flight to Delhi last year. Silk Air (sister airline) started flights to Visakhapatnam in 2012. Overall, our capacity to India will grow five per cent, which is in line with market growth,” Lau said. Currently, there are no immediate plans to seek a revision of traffic rights, he added.