Deccan Aviation acquires 10th helicopter

Bangalore, Feb 24 (UNI) Deccan Aviation, the parent company of low cost airliner Air Deccan, today announced acquisition of its tenth helicopter for its Charter business, operating from eight bases across the country, besides Colombo.

Deccan Aviation Founder Capt G R Gopinath told newspersons that the Helicopter Charter business in the country was still at its infancy. As against a requirement of over 2,000 helicopters, the country currently had just over 145 choppers, of which only 100 were flying.

He said the company had plans to buy more choppers. However, he declined to specify the number since its IPO was pending SEBI clearance.

The company was expecting a revenue of Rs 50 crore for the current fiscal, as against Rs 40 crore earned last year. Right from the year of launch in 1997, Deccan Aviation had been making profits, he added.

Besides tourism which grossed 40 per cent of the revenue during the peak season, the company hired helicopters for oil operations, including Bombay High, mining reconnaisance and other infrastructure projects, he added.

He informed that the Colombo operations were carried out by a separate company and Deccan Aviation was the first private airliner to start helicopter charter in the Island nation. The Sri Lankan venture had received government permission to have international operations and the services were likely to start in about six months time, he added.

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