Air Deccan records 32 per cent hike in passengers

Bangalore, Jun 6 (UNI) Air Deccan, India's largest low cost airline announced that it has recorded 32 per cent increase in the number of passengers in May 2007, compared to the same period last year.

The airline had carried 7,04,043 passengers in May 2007 as compared to 5,33,376 in May 2006. The average load factor in May 2007 remained high at 85 per cent and witnessed an increase over May 2006, where the loads averaged around 82 per cent, a release said here.

In the same period last year, the airline had 250 daily flights and today the figure rose to 350 flights. The airline today provided the widest connectivity in India connecting 65 destinations. They had flown over 11 million passengers since its inception in 2003, the release added.

Chief Revenue Officer and Head Marketing Air Deccan Samyukth Sridharan said, ''this growth in passenger traffic has largely been driven by rapid route and capacity expansion by Air Deccan.'' Since May last year Air Deccan had added 100 new flights and 10 new destinations to its network, increasing the daily seat capacity by 34 per cent.

UNI