Indian Airlines has started yet another price war by offering a common promotional fare of Rs 2,000 for flights to key destinations in Gujarat from Mumbai.

Under the scheme, economy class fares for the Mumbai-Vadodara, Mumbai-Bhavnagar and Mumbai-Rajkot flights will be a flat Rs 2,000 against the normal fares of Rs 2,830, Rs 2,725, Rs 3,130, respectively.

The offer, valid between May 5 and September 30, 2004, is 30-36 per cent cheaper than the normal fares. The promotional fare is also applicable to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad IC 613 and the Ahmedabad-Mumbai IC 604 flights.

Indian Airlines sources said a nationwide launch of such flat fares would depend on the response to this scheme.

The carrier had recently announced heavily discounted fares on some its "positioning flights" connecting two domestic points before taking off to an international destination, such as the Mumbai-Kozhikode-Kochi-Sharjah flights.

Senior Indian Airlines executives said the scheme had generated tremendous response and all seats on these flights had been booked till July.

With several attractive fare categories, the airline has managed to improve its passenger load considerably.

In April, the airline carried an average 22,350 passengers daily, significantly more than the 17,470 passengers flown every day of April 2003. And on last Friday, it carried 27,350 passengers on its network, the highest since December 23, 2000, when it had flown 28, 285 passengers. The airline offers around 36,000 seats on its route network every day.