The no-frill carrier, which has been initiating a series of promotional offers almost every month since January this year, announced tickets with base fare of Rs 699 for sale from Tuesday till Thursday for travel between January 16 and October 24 next year.

The "non-refundable and non-changeable" tickets, being sold on first-come, first-serve basis, would be valid on SpiceJet's entire domestic network for travel on direct, via as well as onward flights, the airline said in a statement, adding that "only the taxes and fees are refundable." It also said that the "fares vary from sector to sector depending on the travel distance." Chief Commercial Officer of the airline Kaneswaran Avili said that the travel period under the 'Early New Year sale offer' was extensive...Advance planning of travel will help customers to fly at very nominal fares and travel more often."

Commenting on the offer, CEO of travel portal TripFactory.com Vinay Gupta said the extensive travel period on offer would "entice people to plan their trip in advance at such low fares. It is a win-win situation for airlines as well as travellers as passengers take advantage of low fare and carriers fill up their aircrafts well in advance and fly more people."

He said that the offers were "even lower than 3-AC classes of Indian Railways and give enough reasons to people to choose air as their preferred mode of travel." Another travel portal Yatra.com's President Sharat Dhall said there was a "deluge" of offers in the air travel market now targetting both economy and business class passengers.

"We at Yatra have already seen our economy bookings increase by over 200 per cent for both domestic and outbound routes, and there is a doubling of business class bookings post the prices being reduced on key routes," he said.

PTI