AI cuts fares up to 40% on domestic flights

NEW DELHI: A day after Jet Airways offered 20 lakh seats at Rs 2,250 for travel till the year-end and all no-frill carriers � IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir � followed suit, Air India on Wednesday evening launched special fares offering a discount of up to 40% on one-way regular fare charged by it on its domestic flights. On Delhi-Mumbai route, an economy class one-way ticket for mid-April was priced at Rs 3,201 by Air India, Rs 3,340 by IndiGo, Rs 3,350 by Jet Airways and Rs 4,426 by SpiceJet. The Delhi-Chennai sector saw an Air India ticket costing Rs 3,701, IndiGo's being Rs 3,840, Jet Airways' Rs 3,850, Jet Konnect's Rs 4,008 and SpiceJet's at Rs 4,714. Meanwhile aviation minister Ajit Singh said the aviation ministry will not intervene in the ongoing fare war between airlines. "Airlines have to look at profitability, we cannot do anything... if they think this is profitable, they are free to do it," he said, while adding that though the government will only monitor and not regulate fares, it may along with airlines put in place some guidelines for framing the upper and lower range of fares. Singh also said the bill to replace the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) by a civil aviation authority (CAA) will be tabled in the Budget session. CAA is expected to have full financial and operational autonomy. "We are preparing a Cabinet note on creating the CAA. We have sent a draft of the proposal to the law ministry. We hope we will be able to table the bill in the second half of this Budget Session itself," Singh said. And, US aircraft major Boeing may compensate Air India for operating its fuel guzzling B-777s in place of the grounded B-787 Dreamliners. "There will be some compensation. ... We will discuss with Boeing only when things settle down," aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters on Wednesday.