Get around in India

By plane

Airlines

At one time, domestic flights were the monopoly of the government-owned Indian Airlines (now known as “Indian”). Jet Airways and Air Sahara challenged this monopoly with better service and competitive fares. In 2004, Air Deccan launched its no-frills airline, heralding the low-cost revolution. Now there are quite a few competitors and prices are a traveller’s delight. Here is a list of airlines in India, but there’s one starting almost every month.
Kingfisher Airlines [12], full service, but with low fares, most flights are between Bombay and Bangalore though it is launching new flights.
SpiceJet Airlines [13], low cost airline
Indian , full service government owned airline, substandard service, but probably the best coverage of India.
Alliance Air -Feeder airline for Indian. Has a spotty safety record.
Jet Airways , full service airline with very good coverage.
Air Sahara , full service airline with decent coverage.
Air India , though this is an international carrier, you can often get good rates on the domestic leg of its international flights
Air Deccan , low cost carrier connecting various metros and small towns.
Go Air low cost
Visa Airways - feeder airline, service mostly in South India.
Paramount Airways [21] - feeder airline, service mostly in South India.
Jagson Airlines [22] service mostly in North India.

Keep in mind, however, that outside of big cities coverage is poor. If you need to get to a small town, low-cost airlines won’t help you. You may have to rely on Indian Airlines or Jet. Flying low-cost to a metro and taking a train is not a bad idea either.

Fares

The earlier you book, the lower you pay. You will hear a lot about air tickets at Rs. 500 (USD 12), but those are promotional rates. Seats are extremely limited and get sold out within hours. But nonetheless, you do get good rates from the budget airlines. Tickets for small cities will cost more than those for the metros, because of the spotty coverage noted above. Many airlines have higher fares for foreigners than for Indians.