PUNE: Several airlines are currently holding flash sales, offering tickets at incredibly low starting fares of Rs899 for domestic destinations and Rs3,399 for international hotspots.And the sales are not going to last long. Sources said the offers are available for booking made between January 9 and 13, and for the travel period of January 24 to April 15, 2019. The flight fares in the sale period are 30% lower than the fares in the past 30 days, said sources.“The airfares were very high during the Christmas-New Year period. The sale now is helping people make travel plans for the summer vacations,” said Santosh Gupta, the owner of Shree Vinayak Holidays. “For a Jaipur-Pune flight on March 15, the ticket price before the sale was Rs5,200. Now the price is Rs3,200. A Pune-Goa ticket, which was approximately priced at Rs6,500, is on sale for Rs5,000 now,” he said.Sharat Dhall, the chief operating officer (B2C), Yatra.com, said, “As there are fewer long weekends in 2019, these discounted fares will help people plan their weekend or short holidays on budgeted fares.”“A couple of months ago, Jet Airways launched a direct flight from Pune to Singapore. Discounts are now being offered on the routes connecting Indian cities to Southeast Asian destinations. There are also discounts on sectors connecting Indian cities to the Middle East,” said Anand Menon, the VP and head of Travel Tours, the leisure travel brand of FCM Travel Solutions. He said the discounts could make a booking for a domestic destination cheaper by Rs800-1,200, and Rs2,000-Rs3,000 for international locations.Aloke Bajpai, the CEO and co-founder of ixigo, said, “The offers are to stimulate early bookings for the summer months. Air Asia and Indigo are offering discounts for travel between January and July 2019. We have seen an average increase of 14% in advance bookings to international destinations like Bangkok, Paris, Singapore and Kathmandu.” Bajpai said there has been a 23% jump in bookings to domestic destinations like Delhi, Srinagar, Leh, Goa and Bengaluru.Heena Akhtar, the co-founder, tripxoxo, said, “There are several options within India, like an excursion to a tea estate in Darjeeling or a Bollywood tour in Shimla. A visit to Singapore with a personal vacation photographer or a trip to Dubai for attractions like a banana boat ride are also interesting options.”

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