Air India Cheaper Tickets: If you travel by air and want to pay only as much money as you need, then Air India has come up with a new option for you. Air India airline has introduced its new basic fare formula today on 16 June 2026, which is specially designed for those passengers who want to fly domestically at low cost.

What is ‘Basic Fare’?

This is a new and cheapest fare class, which will be available in economy class on domestic routes of Air India. In this, the passenger will get 15 kg check-in baggage and 7 kg cabin baggage, but keep in mind that food and drink i.e. complimentary meal will not be included in this.

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What was there before and what has changed now?

Air India was already offering three fare options named Value, Classic and Flex, which started in the year 2024 and all of them included meals. Now Basic Fare has been added as another option below them. This may be cheaper for passengers who do not want to eat separately.

What to do if you need food?

Food can be ordered even after purchasing the basic ticket, but booking will have to be done at least 24 hours before the flight. Veg, non-veg, Jain and diabetic meal options will be available. If the flight is changed and the meal was already booked then it will be transferred to the new flight or the full amount will be refunded.

Where and how to get this ticket?

At present this fare has been started on pilot basis only on some selected domestic routes. It can be booked from Air India website, mobile app, contact center and airport ticket counter. Currently not available on third-party sites.

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What does this mean for travelers?

Air India says that this step is to give more freedom to the passengers. This can be a good option for those who want only flight and not other facilities. However, it also has to be seen how cheap this fare is compared to other airlines, because low cost carriers like Indigo and SpiceJet already work on this model.

Flight Ticket News: Government oil companies have increased the price of aviation turbine fuel by about 10 percent from Tuesday, June 9. The price of ATF in Delhi has increased from Rs 1 lakh 4 thousand 927 per kilo liter to Rs 1 lakh 15 thousand 927 per kilo liter.

Recently, the government has also implemented a price stabilization scheme, which promises to protect domestic airlines from fluctuations in global oil prices for the next three years, but some important questions are also being raised regarding this scheme.

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Due to the West Asia crisis, the price of ATF in the international market jumped from Rs 60.50 per liter in March 2026 to Rs 142 per liter in May 2026, i.e. almost two and a half times.

ATF accounts for about 40 percent of an airline’s total operating costs and can go up to 60 percent during periods of extreme volatility. This shock had badly shaken the budget of all the airlines like Indigo, Air India and Akasa.

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What is Price Stabilization Scheme?

The Central Government has created an ATF Price Stabilization Fund of Rs 10 thousand crores. Under this, interest-free advance funds will be given to government oil companies so that they can provide fuel to domestic airlines at a stable rate. Airlines participating in the scheme will be able to buy fuel from oil companies at fixed rates for a maximum of three years.

The FOB benchmark price has been fixed at Rs 86.32 per litre. After adding airport charges, oil company margin and tax, the actual rate in Delhi becomes Rs 115 per liter. Whenever the price in the international market goes above this benchmark, the government will compensate the oil companies for that loss. The government will get that amount back when prices come down.

Relief to airlines, passengers wait

Air India, Indigo and Akasa have welcomed this step. Airlines say this will help them in cost planning, but the question that matters most is will air tickets be cheaper? The answer to this is currently no.

Experts say that this scheme will do more to prevent future sudden increase in tickets than making tickets cheaper. This means that passengers who are buying expensive tickets today should not expect immediate relief.

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Is the scheme voluntary? this is the biggest question

The biggest weakness of this entire scheme is that it is completely voluntary. Airlines which will not participate in this will continue to buy fuel at the market rate i.e. around Rs 142 per litre, the same rate that is applicable to international airlines.

If any big airline decides to stay out of this scheme, then the cost burden will remain on it and its tickets may remain expensive. On the other hand, if international prices fall, airlines outside the scheme will benefit, while airlines included in the scheme will remain stuck at the fixed rate of Rs 115.

How much burden on OMCs?

It is also worth keeping in mind that government oil companies are already under pressure. Apart from ATF, they are also burdened with under recovery in petrol, diesel and LPG. This advance fund of Rs 10,000 crore will provide immediate relief to OMCs, but it will work only as long as global prices remain high. If the crisis continues for a long time, it remains to be seen whether this corpus will be sufficient or not.

The government says that this step will maintain air connectivity in the country and protect the jobs of about 77 lakh people who are associated with the aviation ecosystem, but the real test will be when the airlines decide whether they join this scheme or not.