Discounted airfares bring in new flyers

March 9, 2014

New_FlyersNew Delhi, Mar 9: Discounted fares have helped airlines bring in new flyers this lean travel season and get assured seat fills. There is a strong demand on the key leisure destinations like Goa and Kerala, say airline officials, and bookings have more than doubled in recent days.

"Such offers add to the abysmally small flyer base in the country. The lower the fares, wider is the flyer-base. When a person flies for the first time and observes the huge time-saving thereof, it often becomes difficult for him/her to take a long journey by train," Amber Dubey, partner and head, aerospace and defence, KPMG said.

"Families use these discounted tickets to shift from trains to flights and get more bang out of their three-four day vacation. Airlines get incremental traffic, better seat factors and advance cash. A typical win-win for all," Dubey added.

Since the start of the year, the Indian aviation sector has seen three promotional schemes offering 30-50 percent discount on fares.

"The recent discounts are to fill the 10 percent seats by giving an alternative to the AC1/2 train passenger," Rajiv Chib, associate director, aerospace and defence at PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

"No airlines can afford discounts unless they have a strategy in mind. Discount is based on the premise that all airlines, even in peak season, have approximately 10 percent of vacant seats. At times like now with the exam season, it is much more."

The new promotional scheme comes after the low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet launched two previous discount schemes that led to other airlines also offer the promotional fares.

"These advance purchase offers are a win-win for customers, for airlines, and for the travel industry and the economy overall, as it leads to significant demand stimulation, customers get to enjoy deeply discounted fares, airlines get to reduce wastage of seats," said airline's new chief operating officer Sanjiv Kapoor.

Other carriers have followed suit and tried to face the competition head on.

"In a highly competitive market with little differentiation between airlines, a discount by one has to be matched by all others. There's no option. Though it comes as a rude surprise to other carriers, they do plan for such scenarios in advance," said Dubey.

Passengers, travel agents and online booking websites have been quick to grab the new schemes.

"These flash sales are becoming a regular feature. Besides stimulating demand, these are also prompting Indians to plan their travel in advance, as these sales encourage travel planning in a particular timeframe and at least a month in advance from the date of the promotions," said Vikram Malhi, general manager, south and southeast Asia, Expedia.

"We are already seeing strong demand on the key leisure destinations like Goa and Kerala and bookings have more than doubled post the announcement. We expect other airlines to follow suit with similar discounts as these prices are sure to strike a chord with the leisure traveller," said Sharat Dhall, president, Yatra.com.

Some in the industry say the promotional airfares should be seen in the context of AirAsia India's entry into the market. If this is true, then an interesting fare war could be on the anvil in the summer of 2014.

But Dubey begs to differ. "The discount is more to stimulate buying and to generate cash quickly. It cannot be linked entirely to AirAsia's entry into India. International airlines come with a 10-15 year horizon and factor in aggressive reception from their competitors in the initial phases."

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News Network
February 28,2020

Hyderabad, Feb 28: The Cyber Crime Police of Hyderabad has registered an FIR against social media platforms- WhatsApp, Twitter and TikTok- for allowing people to spread anti-national activities, as per a complaint filed by one S Srishailam.

Raghuveer, Additional DCP Cyber Crimes said," We have received a court referred complaint, which was filed by S Srisailam in the concerned court stating that social media platforms Whatsapp, Twitter and TikTok are allowing few people to spread anti-national activities and videos."

S Srisailam also claimed that a few people are running a campaign against the CAA on social media platforms to spread hatred which in turn is causing damage to national integrity.

"In this regard, because the complaint was referred by a court a case has been registered against Whatsapp, Twitter & TikTok under the relevant section of Indian Penal Code and IT Act and took up the investigation," the DCP added.

He also added that the police cannot take action against these platforms as they are not banned in India but can initiate action against persons who intentionally indulge in spreading hatred.

"The police are conducting the investigation and if allegations of the complainant are found to be false then we will drop the case. We had received the case one week ago," informed the DCP.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said the central government cannot shirk its responsibility of securing our borders with China and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the nation into confidence on the situation in Ladakh.

In a video message put out as part of the Congress party's campaign to honour the Army personnel who sacrificed their lives in Ladakh, she asked why the country's soldiers were martyred when China has not captured any Indian territory, as claimed by the Prime Minister.

"Today when there is a crisis-like situation at the India-China border, the central government cannot shirk its responsibility (of securing them)," she said in a video message as part of 'SpeakUpForOurJawans' campaign.

"The country wants to know if China has not captured our land in Ladakh, as claimed by the Prime Minister, then why were our 20 soldiers martyred," she asked.

She said while the Prime Minister says there is no intrusion into Indian territory, experts after seeing satellite images talk of the presence of Chinese troops in our territory confirming the intrusions.

"When and how will the Modi government take back from China our land in Ladakh? Is our territorial integrity being violated by China in Ladakh? Will the Prime Minister take the nation in confidence on the situation at the border?" Gandhi asked.

She said the government should give full support and strength to the Army, saying "this will be true patriotism".

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Agencies
May 31,2020

Mumbai, May 31: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday alleged that the event held in Ahmedabad to welcome US President Donald Trump in February was responsible for the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat and later in Mumbai and Delhi, which some of his delegates had visited.

Raut also hit out at the Centre saying that the lockdown was implemented without any planning, but now the responsibility of lifting the curbs was left to the states.

The Sena MP said that despite the opposition BJP's attempts to pull down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, there was no threat to it as its survival is the 'majboori' (compulsion) of all the three ruling allies- Sena, NCP and Congress.

"It can't be denied that the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat was because of the massive public gathering held to welcome US President Donald Trump. Some of the delegates, who accompanied Trump, also visited Mumbai, Delhi, which led to the spread of the virus," Raut said in his weekly column in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

On February 24, Trump along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken part in a road-show in Ahmedabad, which was attended by thousands of people. After the road- show, the two leaders had addressed a gathering of over one lakh people at Motera cricket stadium, run by Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA).

Gujarat had reported its first coronavirus cases on March 20, when samples of a man from Rajkot and a woman from Surat tested positive for the disease.

Raut said that any move to pull down the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and impose President's rule in the state citing its failure to curb the coronavirus pandemic would be suicidal.

"The state had witnessed how President's rule was imposed and lifted as per will six months ago," he said.

"If the handling of coronavirus cases is the basis of imposing President's rule, then it should be done in at least 17 states, including the BJP-ruled ones. Even the central government has failed to curb the pandemic as it had no planning to fight the virus," he said.

"The lockdown was imposed without any planning and now without any plan, the responsibility of lifting it has been left to the states. This chaos will further worsen the crisis," he said.

The Sena MP said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made an excellent analysis of how the lockdown has failed.

"It is shocking that people can indulge in politics by demanding President's rule in Maharashtra for the rise in the coronavirus cases," he said.

BJP MP Narayan Rane had recently met Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and demanded imposition of President's rule in view of the the Shiv Sena-led state government's "failure" in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. However, the BJP had later said that it was not trying to destabilise the government.

Speaking about the stability of the government, Raut said that the survival of the MVA government was the 'majboori' (compulsion) of each of the three alliance partners.

"Even if there are internal conflicts among the ruling partners, there is no threat to the government as the allies know that its survival is the 'majboori' of each one of them," Raut said.

He said that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, in which the BJP and Shiv Sena shared power, saw internal conflicts between the ruling allies, but it completed its full five-year term.

Slamming Fadnavis, who is now the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, for predicting downfall of the MVA government saying it will fall on its own due to its internal bickering.

"If the Fadnavis government, which witnessed deep internal conflicts between BJP and Sena, didn't fall, how can this one collapse? The Fadnavis government survived despite the (Sena) ministers carrying their resignation letters in their pockets," Raut wrote.

Fadnavis, in an online media interaction held earlier recently, said he had no intention to destabilise the MVA government and said it would collapse on its own.

"What Fadnavis means is that all attempts (of the BJP) to create discord among the three allies and break the MLAs has failed. Now the opposition hopes that something would happen among the allies and the government would be fall apart," he said.

Raut said NCP president Sharad Pawar is the prominent leader, who laid the foundation stone of the "Thackeray sarkar", and only he can predict the future of the government.

"He continues to say the government is stable and even the Congress is not going anywhere. MVA legislators are not up for sale in horse-trading. Hence, if the opposition says that the government will fall, it is wrong," he said.

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