It is time to enjoy cheep air travel as the leading domestic airlines are slashing the air fares significantly. Declining crude rates and low demand in the aviation sector is forcing the air carriers to cut air fares. Domestic air traffic declined significantly with just 30 lakh people using the air services in November.

State-owned airline, Air India has decided to slash the fares by up to 82 per cent on Tuesday. The cut would make the air travel cheaper mostly on metro routes of the country. The spokesman for the National Aviation Corporation of India (Nacil) said that the carrier has cut the basic airfare by 35-82% following the decline in prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

Jet Lite, Subsidiary of Jet Airways, has cut air fares by up to 40 per cent on its domestic routes. The company would offer economy class basic air fare for as low as Rs 750 on the Mumbai-Delhi route. Revised basic fare on Mumbai-Chennai route would be Rs 595. Kingfisher airline is also all set to slash the fares from the beginning of New Year. The airline's chairman, Vijay Mallya hinted that the company can reduce the fares by
10-15%. SpiceJet and IndiGo also expressed similar views to revise the fares but declined to divulge the quantum of cut. The chairman of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh confirmed that the airline would pass the benefits of reduced ATF to customers and would take decision very soon. ATF prices were slashed seven times since September and are likely to be further reduced on December 31 and January 15 by at least 15%. ATF prices currently stands at Rs 32,691.28 per kilolitre in Delhi.