Sahara To Offer 40% Discount On Hopping Flights

In an ambitious move to improve its passenger load factor, Sahara Airlines has decided to offer up to 40 per cent discount on its hopping flights which connect the four metros.

Come September, the airline is also introducing a programme to auction tickets on all flights to the highest bidders.

Customers have to make a price bid for a certain limited number of tickets (which will be pre decided) on the Sahara Internet site one month in advance. The minimum bid floor price will be fixed at Rs 1,000 on a ticket with an original fare of Rs 5,000 and the top bidders, depending on the number of seats which have been offered, would receive them at large discounts. Of course, passengers would not be allowed cancellations or any change of flight dates on these tickets.

 

As part of a test marketing exercise, the airline has just launched two hopping flights from Kolkata to Mumbai at a return fare of Rs 7,999 (Indian Airlines charges Rs 12,914 for a direct flight). While one of the Kolkata-Mumbai flights fly via Delhi and Jaipur, the other reach Mumbai via Patna and Lucknow.

Hopping flights with special fares between other metros will be announced soon. Explaining the rationale behind the new pricing strategy, U K Bose chief executive officer of Sahara Airlines, told Business Standard: "The idea is simple. If your passenger load factor is not 100 per cent, it does not make sense in running the airline with empty seats."

Bose said the hopping flight price discount scheme is aimed at the leisure traveller who does not mind the extra hours if he is able to get a hefty discount. For instance, the Kolkata-Mumbai hopping flight takes around five and a half hours compared to two and a half hours in a direct flight. Similarly, a Mumbai-Delhi direct flight might take one hour forty five minutes while a hopping flight via Jaipur would take an extra one hour.

The fares are mainly directed towards those passengers who would have otherwise travelled on trains. For instance, the price of a return train ticket between Mumbai-Kolkata on a First Class AC Sleeper is as high as Rs 7816 while that of a Second Class AC sleeper 2 tier is Rs 3958 (at double the cost you can travel by air).