End of low-cost flying, truly

MUMBAI: The number of flights will go down. The options will be less and fares will go up. Despite assurances from Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya that the alliance will bring better air-fares for passengers, the sentiment among the passengers was negative.

������ This is nothing but hogwash to say that consumers will be beniffited. The two airlines together will be controlling 60% of market share and prices will shoot up. Passengers will be victims of this,'' said Air Passenger Association of India (APAI) president Sudhakara Reddy. The era of low-cost flying could well and truly be over after this operational alliance.

Both Mallya and Goyal have in the past scoffed at the concept of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in India as all carriers have to pay the same charges. Calling LCCs low-fare airlines, Jet and Kingfisher had raised the fares of the LCCs they had taken over ��� Sahara (now JetLite) and Air Deccan (now Kingfisher Red).

������ Together, they will command over half the domestic market shares. Any move by them to raise fares further will force other independent LCCs either tofollow or become unviable and perish ,'' said an airline official.