In a huge respite to passengers reeling under the impact of exorbitant fares since the grounding of Jet Airways, national carrier Air India Friday said it will sell last-minutes tickets at a "hefty discount". Earlier, an airline official had told PTI that it would offer a flat 50 percent discount on last-minute bookings. Air India has decided to sell the very last minutes inventory within three hours of departure at a "hefty discount," the airline said in a statement, without quantifying the discount. The decision was taken at a commercial review meeting of the airline at its headquarters on Friday, the airline statement added. Generally, customers are forced to shell out over 40 percent or more for the last-minute bookings over the average fares. However, in case of a demand-supply mismatch following the grounding of Jet Airways, the difference is much higher normally, an airline official said. Now the last-minute travelers, especially those travelling for urgencies, can book tickets at much cheaper level, the airline added. Also read: Interact with media only after approval from airline chief: Air India to employees Also read: Air India loses Rs 300 crore in 2 months due to Pakistan's airspace restrictions<doc-sep>National carrier Air India Friday announced a 40% discount on flight tickets bought within three hours of flight departure. The airline in an attempt to provide respite to passengers reeling under sky-rocketing prices of air tickets slashed the prices to attract more fliers particularly after the shutting down of operations by Jet Airways. The decision was taken during a commercial review meeting by Air India Friday, the company said. It also said that the travellers can buy flight tickets from all outlets which include Air India's website, mobile app, and booking counters. The announcement will provide relief to travellers who book tickets for emergency travel and are often charged high prices. Also Read: Air India offers 'hefty discounts' on last-minute bookings "Such high prices are a deterrent and the national carrier has, therefore, decided that available seats within three hours of departure would be sold at a hefty discount, normally exceeding 40% of the selling price," a statement from Air India said. The decision was taken owing to a dip in the capacity intake of the aviation sector in recent months followed by the temporary shutdown of Jet Airways' operations and the grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft by SpiceJet. Also Read: Cash-strapped Air India forced to ground 20 planes These reasons pushed the flight prices upwards leading to the capacity reduction of airlines and the resultant effect on passengers' woes in March despite the peak summer travel season. According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, the 9% year-on-year passenger growth recorded in January 2019 at over 12.5 million passengers slumped to 5.6% in February and to 0.14% subsequently in March, as per a report in Livemint. Also Read: Air India loses Rs 300 crore in 2 months due to Pakistan's airspace restrictions<doc-sep>Air India is all set to provide huge respite to its passengers who are battling the recent flight ticket price hike after Jet Airways shut down. The national carrier is all set to offer great discounts on last-minute flight bookings. Recently, Air India announced that it will be providing huge discounts on the sale of all its last-minute flight bookings starting from May 10. According to PTI, the airline will offer a flat 50 percent discount on last-minute bookings soon. In a recent statement, the national air carrier said that it will provide the discounts on its last-minute inventories, but they did not reveal the exact discount they will provide, reports said. They also said in the statement that now last-minute travellers, especially those travelling for emergencies, can book tickets at much cheaper rates. This move comes as a welcome step because flyers generally have to pay almost 40 per cent more than what they generally pay while booking last-minute tickets. The past few weeks for flyers in India have been even tougher, after the exit of Jet Airways. The tickets under this new provision can be booked from the website of Air India, its counters or mobile app. ALSO SEE | Airport staff tells you her most bizarre experience with flyer. Hilarious or scary? You decide ALSO SEE | Flight attendant shares travel tips to solve all your problems on board<doc-sep>
National carrier offers upto 40% discounts on booking three hours before travel Air India will offer a heavy discount to passengers booking a domestic flight for last-minute travel, the national carrier announced on Friday. The decision was taken at a review meeting at the airline’s headquarters here. Air India said travellers buying a ticket within three hours of departure could benefit from its offer. “The last-minute traveller... is often faced with very high ticket prices… The national carrier has, therefore, decided that for the domestic sector, the “very last moment inventory”, i.e., the seats available within three hours of departure, would be sold at a hefty discount,” according to a statement. The airline’s spokesperson, Dhananjay Kumar, said the discount could be 40% on the cost of tickets normally available in that time period. By sweetening the deal for last-minute travellers, the airline is also hoping to sell the seats that otherwise go empty and improve its seat occupancy rate or passenger load factor (PLF). Air India’s PLF is usually the lowest among all domestic carriers. In March, according to DGCA data, Air India was able to sell only 80.8% seats across its flights, while SpiceJet was able to sell 93% seats, Go Air 91.4%, Air Asia 87.5%, Vistara 86.8%, Jet Airways 86.7% and IndiGo 86%. Competitors in the market are unlikely to be happy with Air India's decision. A senior airline official who spoke on the condition of anonymity called it a “knee-jerk reaction” to criticism of high fares. The government had recently appealed to airlines to not hike airfares after the grounding of Jet Airways led to a spike in ticket prices due to a shortfall in capacity.