Air-India is planning an 8-10 per cent increase on its outbound excursion fares during the April-May season. A-I officials said that the increase was likely on select sectors such as Europe and South East Asia.

The airlines had recently announced a 20-25 per cent cut in inbound fares as part of a special holiday package during the March-June lean season.

The April-May season is the traditional high season for outbound travel from India with the onset of summer holidays.

"We are expecting good load factor for our outbound flights this summer so there may be a concomitant hike in the special fares," A-I officials said.

Aviation industry experts feel that the summer outbound traffic this season will be significantly higher than both 2001 and 2002. The traffic is expected to be especially high to South-East Asia.

According to travel agents, the south-east Asian airlines are also likely to increase their outbound fares by 10-15 per cent this summer, while European carriers may refrain from effecting such fare hike.

"Though there is high traffic for Europe during summer, there is no spillover. On the other hand, south-east Asian destinations for the past two years have been seeing excessive traffic," said a travel agent.

The summer season generally witnesses outbound passenger load factors of nearly 70-75 per cent. Inbound traffic for the summer months, on the other hand, hits a low.

Air-India recently had announced an inbound fare cut as part of its holiday package for the summer period. The package is aimed at tourists from Europe, Gulf and UK regions.

The package is applicable for the Europe and UK region from March 15 to June 15, and March 15 and September 30 for the Gulf region.

Air-India has been following a flexible fare policy for sometime now which allows it to reduce or increase fares depending on market demand. Currently a Delhi-London special A-I economy fare costs Rs 25,000, while a business ticket costs Rs 47,000.