AirAsia’s 25,000 promotional seats were sold out within 48 hours of opening for booking. Air Asia’s first flight,  for Bangalore to Goa , 180 seats, was sold out within 10 minutes of launch of sale on May 30 might.  AirAsia priced its fare on Bangalore-Goa route at Rs 490, including taxes for the launch flight.  Are Air Asia fares less than competitors? How did they achieve it? We all want cheap fares but are you ready for flying on a low cost carrier(LCC)?

Understanding Air Asia Fares

AirAsia priced its fare on Bangalore-Goa route at Rs.990, including taxes for the launch flight. The no-frills airline will also operate a return flight to Bangalore from Goa Thursday evening. Air Asia will charge passengers for check-in luggage. Charges by AirAsia are

•  If you book your Check in baggage with tickets,called as Pre booked charges you need to pay Rs 199 for upto 15 kg and Rs 1,9999 upto 40 kg. If however you book the tickets at airport counter you need to pay Rs 300 for upto 15 kgs.
• Cancelled tickets will not earn a refund.
• Passengers cannot eat their own food on board. 
• They also prefer direct bookings so that they don’t have to pay travel agents.
• They also raise ticket prices during peak seasons and reduce them during lean periods to improve yields.

AirAsia’s low-cost competitors such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir allow 15 kg of check-in luggage. As for refunds, GoAir, for instance, deducts Rs 1,500 as cancellation fees from a passenger ticket and returns the balance. No airline in India is yet to stop you from eating food you packed at home.  Let’s checkout the Air Asia fares vs Competitors for Bangalore to Goa and Goa to Bangalore according to EconomicTimes. Remember base fare is the price of airline ticket before fees, taxes, and any surcharges are added.

AirAsia Fares from Bangalore to Goa

And AirAsia Fares from Goa to Bangalore are as follows

AirAsia Fares from Goa to Bangalore

AirAsia in India

AirAsia, is  $30-million Indo-Malaysian venture between AirAsia Berhad (49 per cent), Tata Sons (30 per cent) and Telstra Tradeplace (21per cent) . The airline’s parent company Air Asia operates direct flights from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand to Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Tiruchirappalli and Kolkata. It is taking to Indian skies,with flight from Bangalore to Goa on 12 Jun 2014, a month after the regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted permission( May 7) to launch its budget operations across the country. The airline will commence its second flight to Chennai from Bangalore June 19. The airline plans to connect 10 cities with A320 family aircraft in the first year of its operations, with majority of services in the south of Vindhyas, connecting metros with tier-2 cities. It will shuttle between Bangalore, Goa and Chennai initially. The airline has about 300 people on rolls to commence its operations.

AirAsia will be competing with established rivals such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Lite, Go Air and the state-run Air India to garner a market share to sustain its business.  “Our fares will be 35 percent lower than the market rates,” AirAsia India chief executive Mittu Chandilya said recently. The airline’s introductory fare has triggered a price war among budget carriers, with IndiGo and SpiceJet coming out with promotional and discounted fares on many routes they operate. AirAsia has dived into an industry gutted by debts, losses and shutdowns.  A decade ago, Air Deccan sold tickets starting at 1 rupee. It ended up being acquired by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, operator of Kingfisher. Mallya’s carrier lost its airline license in 2013 amid losses. Not all low cost airlines or budget carries make loss. Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines of the US and Europe’s Ryanair are masters of low cost model and they are the only carriers in the world to concover sistently report profits.It means stuffing planes with seats, flying long hours with one type of aircraft (helps in maintenance, reduces training costs) and charging separately for goods and services, or ancillaries.  Spirit has packed 178 seats in its Airbus A320 aircraft, 30 seats more than its competitor US Airways’ A320s. AirAsia is treading a similar path.

A 30% cheaper fare than competitors and aircraft utilization of 16 hours with turnaround times of 20 minutes are difficult, if not impossible, in Indian aviation, one of the most toughest markets in the world.

Be careful when going for Low Cost Carriers

Low cost airlines means Low fares and airlines charging for meals, checked bags, spacious seats and so on. . Those who go for low cost carriers  might find that they would have to do with uncomfortable seats — say, one that doesn’t recline, in the back. For seats with extra legroom, you have to pay extra. The revenue earned from luxury are called as ancillaries revenues for airlines. Question is how many of us will head to a premier holiday destination with only sunglasses and a change of clothes. This might be possible if you are travelling alone, but what if your family accompanies you?

So Before going for low cost carrier Add the ancillary costs to the base fare of AirAsia, and then check the overall fare with that of other airlines.

What if there is not much difference with the fares of Air India or Jet Airways, will you go with Air India etc or Air Asia?

 If AirAsia’s overall fares are the same as IndiGo or SpiceJet, will you choose based on the best time slots?