Can low-cost airlines sustain cheap fares?

Ever flown on a Re 1 ticket or at a fraction of the cost of the railway ticket? Well, those cheap tickets might be a thing of the past if the current consolidation in the aviation industry is anything to go by.By selling tickets at rock bottom prices, the Indian carriers are losing money at about Rs 600 per seat.When a sleeper ticket in the Indian railways costs you Rs 565 from New Delhi to Chennai (2000Km) how can the low-cost airlines sustain selling tickets below that price.The Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) are trying to tap the estimated 50 million premium railway passengers. While using every trick in the book to woo passengers, their own coffers are draining.The mobile revolution by Reliance Infocomm in 2003 began offering call rates as low as 40 paise in line with Dhirubhai Ambani's vision of conquering the markets with low-cost offering.The mobile revolution sustained due to the low-cost operations and the huge volumes generated by them. However, even though low cost carriers were able to attract the much-required volumes, they were not able to avoid the high input costs.