Continuing with the fare war on the India-London route, British Airways is back with its promotional return fares of Rs 9,990 for all flights from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The fares are valid for only 20 days starting Friday. The total fare, after adding taxes and surcharges, would come close to above Rs 30,000. Meanwhile, full-service carrier Jet Airways increased its London special return base fares from Rs 9,900 to Rs 11,900.
Travel industry sources said airlines like Virgin Atlantic were expected to follow BA and go for a reduction in fares. Carriers like Air India, Etihad, Emirates and European carriers like KLM-Northwest already offer lower fares than BA.
BA had come out with the same limited offer in October last year. Others like Virgin and KLM-Northwest have also offered similar fares. "You get an Air India base return fare at Rs 6,900 and a KLM-Northwest return basic fare at Rs 9,000.
Both of these are lower than the BA's offer . Kingfisher, which only has a Bangalore-London flight, would not be able to sustain base fares lower than Rs 11,900," said Diwakar Barikh of travel portal makemytrip.com.
A Jet Airways executive said their flights from New Delhi and Mumbai had been getting good loads which is why they had been able to increase their fares.