Asian air fares nosedive

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Air fares to several popular Asian destinations have come down drastically and Sri Lankan outbound traffic has increased.

The airlines that were selling New Delhi for around Rs. 40,000 have now priced a ticket for Rs. 22,000 including taxes, while a Singapore ticket is now being sold for less than Rs. 31,000. This is a reduction of more than Rs. 10,000.

Another key destination where prices have come down is Malaysia where a return ticket could be purchased online for less than Rs. 20,000 from the new budget airline, Air Asia. SriLankan, which operated direct flights, were selling a ticket for around Rs. 40,000. When contacted an office of SriLankan said that they are a full service airline that provides food and other facilities for the three-hour plus journey. "If you are flying on a budget airline you have to pay separately for food," the official said.

An Air Asia official said that they provide low fares, as they are a budget carrier and their overheads are low. We have a good demand from Sri Lankans specially for leisure and also people use the airline to fly out to other destinations in Australia, Singapore and beyond, he said.

With the launch of Air Asia last week there is also a developing outbound market from Malaysia to Colombo. One of the key reasons for the lowering of airfares to Indian destinations is the increased number of airlines flying to Sri Lanka using the open sky policy between the two countries.

This has created a competition resulting in a price war. Today the popular South Indian destination, Chennai is sold for less than Rs. 11,000 while Bangalore that was advertised for Rs. 30,000 plus is now less than Rs. 23,000. In addition to SriLankan Airlines that operates nearly 100 flights per week to several Indian destinations, Air India Express, Jet Lite, Kingfisher, Air India and Indian Airlines also fly to Colombo. Traditionally travel agents published packages mainly for Bangkok and the African and Egypt destinations. However today countries like Vietnam and Malaysia too are being offered.

Due to Sri Lanka's budget airline, Mihin Lanka launching weekly packages to Bodhgaya, today travel agents are offering weekly packages for less than Rs. 80,000. Prior to Mihin offering direct flights local pilgrims had to fly to Chennai and then take the train to Delhi and proceed to Bodhgaya which was very tiring and expensive too.

The Bodhgaya operations are highly successful, said CEO Mihin Lanka Kapila Chandrasena.

New airlines such as Oman Air is also planning to re-commence their flights to Colombo this year.