Colombo Race On Without Price War

Anupama Anand - New Delhi

With Jet Airways and Air Sahara going international last month with daily flights to Colombo, the number of visitors to Sri Lanka is surely on an upward scale this year with passengers having a wider choice and better connectivity. However, the industry sources portend that the entry of Air Sahara and Jet Airways to the Colombo market may not really unleash a fare war this summer, but there will be attractive sops galore for consumers.

As Nandini Verma, vice-president, corporate affairs and PR Jet Airways said, "We do not expect any major price war though the induction of additional 40 per cent capacity on this route has definitely changed the demand-supply situation. Definitely with the initial inaugural offers settling down by the end of May, the prices are expected to stabilise."

Concedes Raj Makhija, sales manager, North India, SriLankan Airlines, "We are not bringing down our price as it has not affected the operations in Northern India. If at all there would be a price war, it would be down south as Air Sahara has cut down their fares."

However, Uttam Kumar Bose, CEO, Air Sahara doesn't see the carrier's low fare as a ploy to capture market. "We are not for price war as there is enough space for everyone. We will rather rely on our innovative marketing strategy to increase our market share."

Rajiv Nangia, Country Manager, SriLanka Tourist Board, thinks that though there may not be a real price war but pricing is definitely going to be affected, with more and more airlines or multi-destinations coming up as it's based on simple economics of demand and supply. In this totally buyers market with more capacity being thrown open, the real lure would be onward connections to passengers from Colombo and who are heading for further destinations like South-East Asia, Europe as well as USA.

Air Sahara in that direction has rightly taken the alliance route to rope in more passengers. "We have tied up with Cathay Pacific for onward journey from Sri Lanka and are looking for tying up with other airlines to offer maximum number of choices to our passengers," informed Bose.

However, one single trend in the marketing strategy of all airlines seems to be offering sops to lure passengers. Priced at Rs 31,000 per couple, Air Sahara's package includes extensive travelling in Sri Lanka apart from airport transfer, accommodation and breakfast.

Sri Lankan Airlines in order to keep ahead of the competition has strategically added A320s to their fleet to increase capacity and are offering the double skyward miles for travel on business class. Jet Airways for their packages have tied up with three and five-star hotels in Sri Lanka ranging from three nights to five nights, offering a variety of choice from a seaside resort to a mountain resort inclusive of transfers and limited city sight seeing.

One thing is certain regional tourism will experience a phenomenal growth. Nangia expects tourism to Sri Lanka to grow by approximately 50 per cent over the same period last year.