GoAir planning expansion and free tickets to lure in customers

The Wadia Group-promoted GoAir is the latest to go on offensive in the Indian domestic aviation sector. The group has planned to expand its serviced areas to four more cities including some major destinations like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and Jaipur. They would be offering flights to these regions within a week.

Also on plans is to bring in more customers by offering as many as 10,000 free tickets on its new destinations on first-come-first-serve basis. Customers eligible for these tickets would only be required to pay the taxes amounting to Rs 221 and can avail of the scheme until March 26, 2006. Now, this is one impressive scheme to bring in more air travelers.

The company had also started with a similar free ticket scheme when it launched its operations in the Indian market. They started with operations covering cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Goa initially. With the newly added destinations, GoAir would now be serving customers from eight major cities in India.

And the managing director of the Wadia group, Jeh Wadia has promised that they would rapidly expand their covered destinations to more cities progressively. Wadia said in a statement: “The addition of new routes substantiates our commitment to our passengers by connecting them to important destinations in India. All four destinations have immense business and leisure potential. Our services to these cities will not only enhance our business but also increase tourist flow to these destinations”.


Kingfisher, GoAir and IndiGo Airlines considering forming an alliance

We have seen a brilliant case of consolidation in the Indian aviation market with the merger of Jet Airways and Air Sahara. However, this collaboration has resulted in the biggest airline company in India which somewhat threatens the existence of smaller companies vying to get a share of the growing Indian aviation market.

The latest news coming in from the market is that the budget players like Kingfisher Airways, GoAir, and Indigo are considering forming an alliance to compete on level playing terms against bigger players in the market. If they indeed go on to form an alliance, it would surely be targeted at the Jet’s dominant position.

With the acquisition of Air Sahara, Jet Airways now controls a major share of some of the most lucrative routes in India. The Jet-Sahara combine would account for nearly 85% of the flights in the lucrative Delhi-Mumbai route. This route alone contributes to almost 50% of the air traffic in the country. In addition, Jet Airways would also get 50% of all parking bays. Indian (Airlines) keeps around 35% leaving little for the smaller players in the market.

Kingfisher Airlines chairman and managing director, Vijay Mallya said in a statement: “For new airlines wishing to launch services between Mumbai and Delhi, overnight parking slots will be required. However, they will be severely constrained and will have to be satisfied with the limited expansion that is taking place.”

He further added: “The viability of any airline must depend on flying the routes where there is existing traffic. The combination of routes and parallel development of a few non-metro sectors is a viable opportunity. The government has a role to play in ensuring there is no route-specific monopoly.”