Spice Jet’s latest ticket offer saw one lakh bookings on Day 1

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, September 02, 2014:  Loss-making, low-cost airline SpiceJet rolled out yet another cheap fare offer called Early Bird on Monday with tickets priced as low as Rs.499 on its domestic network making it the fifth discount bonanza for fliers in the last two months. Within hours, one lakh tickets for the three-day offer were sold.

 

The way it was lapped up by customers on Monday indicates a record of sort, an airline source told news agency PTI. "By 4 pm, tickets sale touched the 1-lakh mark," the source said adding, "it expects to set a new sales record in terms of booking in a single day.

" The series of discounted fares has enabled the Kalanithi Maranpromoted airline to increase its market share to the second spot with every fifth flier in the country booked on its flights.

But the carrier plunge deeper into the red with a loss of Rs.124.10 crore in April-June quarter. This is the fourth consecutive quarterly loss for the airline. SpiceJet had seen its revenue fall a bit from a year earlier to Rs.1,678.59 crore despite its rising market share.

The latest offer, for travel between January 16 and October 24 next year, is open from Monday to Wednesday. The fare is inclusive of fuel surcharge but all statutory taxes and fees are to be paid by the passenger as applicable on the date of travel.

Ankur Bhatia of Bird Group said, "This has stimulated the aviation market. Though such periodic discounted fares are only two-to-five per cent of the total inventory, this helps airline generate immediate cash for future and also ensures that seats don’t go empty. By adopting aggressive discounted fares, SpiceJet also got the first-move advantage and that also helped it mop up cash for working capital as it faced cash flow problem."

Courtesy:Indiatoday