New Delhi, Feb. 2: Hit by a flood of ticket cancellations, airlines are waging a new fare war, reports our special correspondent.

Indian Airlines (now known as Indian) launched “unchecked” fares offering seats on the Delhi-Calcutta sector for Rs 2,300-4,515 and Calcutta-Mumbai for Rs 2,600-4,515. In all, cheap fare options are being offered for 146 sectors from today till April-end.

Indian Airlines’s offers came hours after Jet announced its mega-sale ? Delhi-Calcutta tickets are available for Rs 2,240 and Mumbai-Calcutta for Rs 3,840.

However, both airlines were at pains to stress that the discount options had nothing to do with cancellations prompted by the ongoing airport strike but were pre-planned marketing excercises.

An Indian Airlines official said the airline decided on the new deal, encouraged by the “overwhelming” response to its Easy Fares.

Unlike the apex fare, this scheme does not give a time limit on purchase of discounted tickets.