NEW DELHI: Major airlines have started offering discounts and flash sales to boost air traffic that had nosedived during April and May when India was reeling under a severe second Covid-19 wave. Now that infections are coming down and more people are getting vaccinated, the industry expects travellers to flock to airports.
On Thursday, Vistara announced a 48-hour sale of its flights for travel between August 1 and October 12. The airline is offering a one-way ticket for as low as Rs 1,099. “As the situation begins to gradually improve and demand starts to return, we are happy to invite travellers to fly the airline,” said Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara.
This sale comes a day after IndiGo announced a ten per cent discount on base fare for customers who have been administered either one or both the Covid-19 vaccine doses. While IndiGo had initially planned to
offer this discount from June 23, it was later pushed to August 1 after realising that fare cap rule was in effect till July 31. Domestic air traffic has seen 2x growth in recent weeks. The average number of daily fliers rose to 1.03 lakh for the week ended June 19 as against 49,000 for the week ending May 23.