Air Deccan to fly 8 million passengers a year

New Delhi, Nov 26: Air Deccan, the pioneer in low-cost air travel across the country, plans to fly about eight million passenger in its current fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.

''We hope to have a market share of 22 per cent by January 2007, said airline's managing director G R Gopinath.

Air Deccan was born in August 2003 and flew one million passengers in the first year. Next year, it carried three million. So far, it has flown 7.3 million passengers.

Government-owned Indian, a 53-year-old airline, flies about seven million passengers annually. Many industry experts believe that Air Deccan has changed the way Indians travel.

''In present times, air travel should not be regarded as a luxury, rather an essential infrastructure to be brought within the reach of all Indians,'' says Capt Gopinath.

Air connectivity leads to industrial and agricultural growth, he says, and results in economic prosperity around the region.

''We've the largest network in the country and connect 61 cities compared to 46 by Jet Airways and 44 by Indian.'' Capt Gopinath says Air Deccan is trying to shift and enlarge the consumer base of air travellers. With over 300 flights a day, it has a daily flying capacity of 25,000 seats. It sells about 24,000 of them.

In the current fiscal, the airline hopes to clock a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore. ''Most low-cost airlines around the world take four to five years to breakeven,'' says Capt Gopinath.

''We should be able to make profits in next two years or so.'' The airline currently operates 16 brand new Airbus A320 aircraft and 24 ATR turboprop aircraft. It has brought 12 unconnected cities on the Indian aviation map so far, the latest being Bellary, Kandla and Pathankot.

Air Deccan offers dynamic pricing on its entire seat inventory.

The pricing is a function of demand and supply of seats at any given time. The earlier one books, the lesser one pays.

Typically, tickets on low-cost airlines are 40 per cent cheaper than those on full-service carriers.

UNI