Summer’s the time to pack your bags and venture out to holiday hotspots, with family, friends or maybe on a solo sojourn.

And to help the traveller on his way, there are plenty of packages, discount tours and steal deals on offer. Cashing in on the customer’s need to be footloose and fancy-free are travel agents, hotels and even the airlines.

Not to be left behind is Indian Airlines (IA). A slew of sops from January this year has been wooing passengers. From super-saver schemes to additional summer specials to island destinations, the national carrier is gearing up for competition, big time.

The latest offering is the Pay Smart option. Simply put, it means “fly now, pay later”. In a tie-up with ICICI bank, all its credit card-holders can buy tickets from the six metros with a down payment and the rest in 10 interest-free equal monthly instalments.

Also part of the scheme are holiday packages to Colombo, Singapore and Bangkok.

The offer, valid till March 2005, is specifically for economy-class passengers, to “bring flying closer to the middle class”, says IA regional director, east, M.S. Balakrishnan. “It works out to be even more cost-effective than the railways if you plan your holiday ahead of time, and people are realising that.”

It’s all part of the reinvention and innovation plans for IA, he explains. “It’s been happening for the past couple of years, and it has been working, with regard to attracting new traffic,” adds Balakrishnan. “In the last fiscal, we carried around 5.7 million passengers, with 27,000 in one day.”

And there are big plans, with the addition of 11 new aircrafts in winter this year — five A320s and six A390s. “It’s been cleared by the board. This means new flights, maybe even new destinations.”

On May 15, additional flights are taxiing for take-off to Port Blair from Calcutta, to cope with the tourist traffic.

Also thrown into the IA loop is an extra morning trip to Chennai, to make access to Colombo and Singapore easier from Calcutta.

Another service for Calcuttans is the frequent flyers’ members service centre at the airport.

But schemes are how IA is targeting a rise in customer count. In a tie-up with Taj Hotels, the airlines is offering discount stopover stays to domestic destinations, on some of the metro sectors, till September 2004.

The Super Saver ticket counts for points, which can be redeemed to avail of free tickets till July. And till May 19, there’s a lucky draw on IA flights to pick the Hot Seat, for four free return tickets to any national or international IA sector.