NEW DELHI: Air India announced on Friday that it has considered lowering the concession offered to senior citizens and students from the earlier 50 percent to 25 percent.
The airline was handed over to industrial giant Tata Industries in January this year as Air India was reeling under debts that were worth 60,000 crores.
The Air India website issued a notification where it clearly stated, "...under senior citizen and student concession) for tickets issued on/after 29th September 2022, 25 percent (discount) of basic fare will be applicable on select booking classes in the economy cabin,"
A top official of the airline when asked about the slash in concession said, "The reduction in concessions is done keeping the market situation in mind and we have taken the decision to rationalize our fares and bring it in line with the broad market trend that is prevalent so that we can be competitive competitors in the huge airline market"
The official also added that even after the slash in discount, the airline carrier's discount on base fares for senior citizens and students will be nearly double when compared to other private airlines.
Air India has made no changes apart from the slash in the concession of senior citizens and students and the fares for other categories of travelers remain the same.
The carrier has a broad range of concessional travel which they offer to armed forces personnel, Arjuna awardees, Padma Awardees, Bharat Ratna awardees, Cancer patients, and blind people among others. There is no change in the fares of these categories of travelers.
This announcement comes just after the Tata group held a series of business meetings with Singapore-based Singapore Airlines Limited which owns Vistara Airlines. There are reports that Tata-owned Air India will merge with the Singapore-based Vistara Airlines soon.
According to reports, the revised fares would be effective from September 29.
Also Read: Air India Unveils Transformation Plan
Also Watch: