Methodology
The Indian Council for Market Research conducted a survey among consumers in the age group of 25 years and above to understand the people’s response to the discounted sale of air tickets and its impact on the airline industry. The survey was conducted in five cities across India, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. The survey’s sample size: 450 respondents.
How often do you fly?
India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world. With the increase in income levels, an increasing number of people have taken to travelling by air. The survey conducted by ICMR suggested that 65% of the respondents travel by air quite often followed by 20% who travel frequently.
Are you aware of the discounted air tickets offer made by leading players recently?
The discounted sale of air-tickets by the aviation industry has created a buzz in the market. Travellers feel very excited about such offers, which have generated a huge response from the people. The survey conducted by ICMR revealed that 97% of the respondents out of the 95% who knew of the discounted fares were very excited about the offers.
Why did you buy the tickets?
When asked about the reasons for buying air tickets now, 45% of the respondents said it saved money whereas 36% of the respondents said any kind of discount is welcome followed by 18% who said more persons can travel now without breaking the budget.
Did you plan a holiday or trip because of the offer?
Discounted air-fares have provided an opportunity to passengers to plan their trip well in advance. According to the ICMR survey, 80% of the respondents agreed that they planned their trip because of the offers, followed by 20% who did not agree to the same.
Discounted fares have prompted people to travel even if they did not plan a trip in advance
The offers have not only helped passengers to plan a trip but have also prompted those people to travel who had not actually planned a trip earlier. 85% of the respondents agreed that discounted fares prompted them to travel even though they did not have such plans earlier.
Did discounted fares made you go for a bulk purchase of your tickets in advance?
Because of the discounted sale of air-tickets, most of the people went on to buy the tickets in bulk. The survey conducted by ICMR revealed that, 70% of the respondents said they made a bulk purchase of their tickets in advance due to the discount, followed by 30% of the respondents who did not buy tickets in bulk.
Why did you not buy tickets in bulk?
When asked about the reasons for not buying tickets in bulk, 54% of the respondents said planning a trip at such short notice was not possible whereas 28% of the respondents said they did not buy because of the huge cancellation charges. Only 18% said they did not buy due to budget constraints.
Have discounted tickets helped airlines to sell more seats and narrow their losses
Despite the aviation regulator DGCA saying that discounted sale of tickets will have a negative impact on the financials of airlines, industry players believe it would help in mitigating the losses by filling up more empty seats. According to the ICMR survey, 65% of the respondents believe that the airline industry will come out of the losses by selling more seats than usual.
