Indian Airlines on Tuesday announced an attractive fare scheme whereby a passenger travelling on metro routes will now have to pay just Rs 1,000 for an onward journey to a non-metro city.
The national carrier is launching 'IA Metro Non-Metro scheme' from July 16 to October 15 in a move to stimulate air travel to and from small cities and mini-metros, an IA release said.
This essentially means that the fare for the non-metro leg of the journey will be only Rs 1,000 when this travel is in conjunction with travel on a metro sector. For instance, the fare for Mumbai-Agra via Delhi will now be Rs 8,415 instead of a normal combination fare of Rs 9,440.
Similarly, Mumbai-Bagdogra and Mumbai-Guwahati via Kolkata will now be Rs 9,359 instead of Rs 12,100 and Rs 11,805, respectively. The special fares are also available in reverse routes.
The scheme covers 224 metro and non-metro combinations. It, however, excludes those sectors which are linked by direct flights, for instance IC 865 which operates on the Delhi-Mumbai Goa route or IC 168 which operate on the Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai-Delhi route.
The non-metro sector can be flown either before or after the travel on metro sectors with stopovers permitted at each point.
According to the airline, it is now shifting its focus on the large untapped market comprising of small cities and mini-metros.
The fares for metro sectors could be normal/ excursion/ promotional or seven-day advance apex fares and would be available for the economy and executive classes.
