'Mad fare disease' and Aniruddha Das

January 26, 1998

Airlines try to outdo each other on discount fares from India to New York,

Washington, London

January 26, 1998

Web posted at: 12:05 p.m. EDT (1205 GMT)

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) -- Some call it mad fare disease, others say it

is just a plain old price war.

Starting early last week, the average price of an air ticket out of India to

London or New York has fallen by nearly 50 percent, with airlines scrambling

to get one-up on each other with bigger and better discounts.

German airline Lufthansa became the latest entrant to the battlefield,

stating that it could not stand isolated and had no alternative but to slash

its fares.

"The mad fare disease has spread from British Airways (BA) to almost all

carriers ... we at Lufthansa cannot stay in isolation any longer," it told

its travel agents.

The first salvo in the price war was fired by BA, which cut fares by 40

percent early last week, triggering a reaction from all major carriers that

fly out of India.

The price of a ticket to London and back was an average 22,000 rupees

(US$567) Monday, down from about 35,000 rupees ($903) a week ago. Fares to

New York and Washington now cost about 30,000 rupees ($774), down from

44,000 ($1,135) a week ago.

Apart from BA and Lufthansa, discounts are now available on Air India, the

KLM-Northwest combine, Emirates Airlines, SAS, Delta Airlines, Air France

and United Airlines.

The discounts have come at a seasonal trough.

"There is a sharp fall in demand in the trough, a period that runs from

January 15 and April 15 each year," said Aniruddha Das, assistant general

manager at Sunshine Travels said.

He said demand from both tourists and business travelers fell off by about

20 percent during this period.

Almost all discount tickets have to be bought before the end of this month,

and travel has to be completed before early April.

While airlines rush to cut fares on westbound routes from India, eastbound

routes remain in high demand at regular fares. Das said it was impossible to

get tickets at short notice to Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok.

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