Indian Railways Starting To Face The Heat From Low Cost Airlines

Indian railways is the undisputed king in its territory but here is somebody who is slowly and steadily trying to encroach upon its kingdom and it is none other than the airlines of the country which are offering seats in their cabins at prices lower than that of being offered on the first class coach of the only railways in the country. Airlines that was once the domain of the elite and rich is trying to corner the booming middle class that has a lot of disposable incomes in their hands.

Some of the low cost airlines have been offering airfares equivalent to the cost of traveling on AC II tier train. Air Deccan that started off with the trend of offering low cost airfares is now finding a number of competitors in the form of almost a dozen airlines that are looking forward to woo the booming middle class.

The Indian Railways has started to face the pressure from these LCA and even though it's a minor threat at the moment but the time is not far off when Indian Railways might have to run empty coaches and witness a drop in its profitability.

Probably it would have to pull up its socks and offer better services matched by economical services if it would like to ward off this new threat but let me tell you that it wont be easy to move this pillar from its place which has seen a lots of ups and downs since its inception almost two centuries back.

I feel the low cost airlines is a short term hoopla which will cool down in the future since it would not be easier for the airlines to continue to offer cheap tickets as it could surely hit their bottom lines with so much of capital investment involved.

Gautam Chhabra is an accomplished writer and SEO consultant. Read more about Indian Railway out here