City passengers giving AI a miss
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Days after the end of the Air India pilots’ strike, sky-high airfares continue to pinch domestic fliers, Hindustan Times reported.Quoting travel agents, it said peak hour fares, which include fares of flights taking-off from Mumbai between 6am to 9am, are more than double the normal rates. For instance, a one-way economy class ticket between Mumbai and Delhi for Wednesday costs INR15,000.The report said despite the discounted fares being offered by AI to entice passengers to return to the national carrier, take up rates have been poor.It said private airlines have attracted more passengers than AI despite higher fares. AI flights on the Mumbai-Delhi sector are priced between INR 5,000 and INR 8,000. “People are still sceptical of flying AI. They are willing to spend about Rs500 more on a private carrier,” Jay Bhatia, Western Region Chairman of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) was quoted saying.He was quoted saying that fares were likely to be high till the month-end because of the upcoming holidays. Airfares out of Delhi are expected to rise from June because vacations begin around that time, the report said. “I avoided taking an Air India flight because I don’t want to take a chance with my crucial business trip to Chennai on Thursday,” resident Ranjit Kakade was quoted saying. The senior executive with a consumer goods company missed a deal because his AI flight to Delhi was cancelled due to the pilots’ strike.
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