04 June,2009 09:24 AM IST | | Chandran Iyer
Charter flight companies offer discounts to attract corporate bosses who are keeping away due to the slowdown, and to cope with the routinely unprofitable monsoonsu00a0u00a0u00a0
Charter flight companies are offering 10 to 15 per cent discounts to attract customers struggling with the ongoing economic downturn. The discounts are an attempt by companies that offer planes and helicopters on hire to tide the approaching monsoons, when business is slack due to inclement weather.
Amay Gore, a spokesperson of Airnetz, a company that provides charter services between Pune and Mumbai to corporate executives, said, "Companies like ours are facing rough weather. We have no option but to offer discounts to offset the loss of revenue due to the slowdown. While we hire out a chopper a day now, the frequency could drop to one flight in two to three days during the rains, as the bad weather often forces us to make cancellations."
Zubin Jogina, spokesperson, Helicraft Charters, a Mumbai-based company, said, "Since business is slack in this part of the country during the monsoons, we shift our chopper to other locations, where the weather is better.
We expect revenues, ours as well as that of another companies, to shrink as much as 30 per cent during the monsoons."