Air India announced on Thursday a limited-period promotional scheme to attract frequent fliers during the peak winter season, a move aimed to increase its market share.
The scheme, called 'Winter Warmth', envisages one free return ticket of two coupons on the national carrier's domestic network to those taking a minimum of eight flights on select sectors between December 5 and February 5.
The scheme would be applicable for travel between Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad during this period, the airline said.
Barring long flights between Delhi and Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore, the award ticket would be available on all other sectors, it said, adding that the passengers have to claim it before February 28 next year.
Those flying eight times only on Business Class would get a return ticket of the same class, while those flying on a combination of Business and Economy classes or solely on Economy would get a pair of Economy return ticket.
Apart from this, Air India is so far the only carrier to have reduced its fuel surcharge by Rs 400 per ticket.
The airline, like its private competitors, is facing a serious financial crisis. It has urged the government, which is its owner, to enhance its equity base and provide a sought of soft loan to meet the cost of acquiring a total of 111 aircraft.