Air Deccan set to relaunch operations with ₹1 tickets
NEW DELHI: Air Deccan, India’s first domestic low-cost airline, is set to relaunch operations this month with what it is remembered for the most—₹1 airfares.
Air Deccan, founded by GR Gopinath in 2003, merged with Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines in 2008, which was grounded in 2012 under financial duress.
In its second innings, the airline will begin with four bases at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong, connecting them with smaller cities around them.
The first Air Deccan flight will take off on 22 December and fly to Mumbai from Nashik, Gopinath told Mint, speaking from his home in Bengaluru.
“This will be my last Udan and then I will hang up my boots,” said Gopinath, who has been waiting for a re-entry for few years now.
The government’s Udan scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), which loosely translates as “let the common man fly” and proposes to connect small towns on fares of about ₹2,500 for a onehour flight, has provided that entry for the entrepreneur. Air Deccan, which has the tagline “Simplifly”, will brand its entry with a “the common man takes to the skies” logo designed by cartoonist the late RK Laxman.
“Some of the initial lucky people will be able to get ₹1 fares also,” Gopinath said, even though most tickets will start at ₹1,400 for a 40-minute Nashik-mumbai flight, a distance that would take four hours to cover by road.
Air Deccan will also operate daily return flights between Nashik and Pune and Mumbai and Jalgaon.
By January, the airline plans to station a second aircraft in Delhi to connect the city with Agra, Shimla, Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Dehradun and Kullu.
Air Deccan will also station two planes in Kolkata, flying them to Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bagdogra, Burnpur, Cooch Behar, Agartala, and from Shillong to Imphal, Dimapur, Aizawl and Agartala.
It will use 19-seater Beech 1900 D planes that are used worldwide. Three of these planes have already joined its fleet and two more will be added over the next few weeks, according to Gopinath.
By January, four planes will be used for services and one will be kept on standby.
An email seeking comment from the Mumbai airport remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
A Delhi airport spokesman said to support Udan, the airport has offered 26 slots to four airlines. Air Deccan had requested for a total of 10 slots, out of which 6 slots have already been offered to the airline. “In addition, 4 postmidnight slots have also been offered. However, Air Deccan is yet to finalise their schedule,” it added.
“India presents such a big market with so many different levels of airports that you need a turboprop to address a good part of the regional market,” former Jet Airways chief executive Steve Forte said, adding, “The government should have some guidelines for airports to provide for regional connectivity.”