Low-cost carrier GoAir on Monday dropped fares to match Jet fares. On the Mumbai-Delhi route, GoAir normally charges Rs 2,400 (one way). The fare was cut to Rs 2,061 for travel during this week. One-way tickets on routes such as Mumbai-Chennai and Mumbai-Bangalore were available in the range of Rs 1,900-2,100. Lean-hour travel, in the afternoons, was even cheaper at around Rs 1,800, Business Line has reported on Wednesday.

Jet Airways, which had lost nearly Rs 60-crore business to competition during the five-day impasse, had decided to slash economy ticket prices by a flat 50 per cent on its flagship airline as well as Jet Konnect flights for this week.

However, what prompts the airlines to bring back the fare war is a different issue. It was not too long ago in the past that domestic and international airlines fought a fare war in the country and rolled back it at all abruptly, when the fuel prices hijacked such business tricks. The current spell of air fare war begins at a time when the airline industry struggling hard to wriggle out of the impact of economic recession.

If the reports are to be believed, passengers are not queing up to make use of the surprise price slash many domestic airlines have announced for the next two three days. Quoting some travel agents in Bangalore, The New Indian Express has reported that air tickets on different routes were available in plenty and that tickets being booked in bulk were just rumours. Quoting a representative of Deccan Holidays , the paper says: ``There was no rush to book tickets and that tickets were available despite the slashing of fares. People these days are very intelligent. They are not lured by such offers."

The reason behind the bout of imminent air fare war is somewhat evident when if we heed to International Air Transport Association. According to IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani, it may take three to four years for the global airline industry to fly through the recession. While major airlines have slashed capacity and operating costs and can build up cash reserves to weather the storm, smaller carriers face deepening financial problems as banks turn away from them and "we're going to see more failures", he says.