Flying with just cabin bag? You may get a cheaper ticket soon

The cheaper fares will benefit about 40% of domestic travellers, such as small businessmen and corporate executives, on short trips and encourage them to travel more frequently rather than stay in hotels.

“Indian airlines are studying the market to see which routes make more sense to offer such fares. We are aware that they are preparing to offer lower airfares to those travelling with just one cabin bag. One of the main beneficiaries of this service would be the micro, small, and medium enterprises,” said a senior executive at an online travel operator.

Currently, the lowest airfares offered on most domestic routes include the provision of a cabin bag weighing up to 8 kg and check-in luggage weighing 15-25 kg, and no Indian airline offers cabin baggage-only fares.

However, foreign carriers do, and Scoot, the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, already offers zero baggage fares from India.

IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline, said it is considering the plan. “We will continue to evaluate our service offerings to offer options and flexibility to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” an IndiGo spokesperson said in response to a query.

This will not be the first time airlines roll out special fares for passengers. An earlier attempt in 2017 was rejected by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

“There was a difference of opinion between the aviation regulator and the Federation of Indian Airlines, and the matter was taken up by the Delhi high court in 2017. The ruling was in favour of airlines, and hence, under the current regulations, nothing stops airlines from offering different fares to those with check-in luggage provision and those without,” said a senior government official on the condition of anonymity.

Queries emailed to SpiceJet, Air India, Vistara, and GoFirst for comments remained unanswered.

While hand baggage-only fare is standard practice among European and American airlines for short-haul flights, Indian airlines are planning an accelerated push towards the same as this helps save fuel and vacates the cargo belly for ancillary revenue, analysts said.

“IndiGo, SpiceJet and AirAsia introduced zero-baggage fares or hand baggage-only fares a few years back, but had to subsequently withdraw these fares as it was too early for the Indian market,” said Michael Jain, director of Belair Travel agency.

Another analyst said that these special fares have the potential to change the way Indians fly. “At the moment, about 40% of people in India travel with only cabin baggage, but with these changes coming in gradually, it could lead to the number of such passengers increasing by 20-25% in the long run,” said a travel industry analyst, who declined to be identified.