Airlines Deals

Air Deccan, India’s No. 1 low cost airline, today upstaged its nearest competitor and government owned airline, Indian Airlines (established 1953), to become the second largest airline in the country. Air Deccan has garnered a market share of 21.2 percent in June, a rise of 1.8 percent since May 2005 while the market share of Indian dipped to 20.8 percent in the month of June.

Air Deccan, which started its operations in August 2003, has seen a very rapid growth having flown over 5.8 million passengers since inception. This phenomenal growth has been attributed to the aggressive expansions undertaken by Air Deccan in the last three years of its operation.

Capt. G R Gopinath, Managing Director, Air Deccan said, “Air Deccan with its unconventional business model brought the luxury of flying to the common man in India. Dynamic pricing coupled with wide connectivity, rapid expansion of fleet and several other innovative steps enabled us in becoming the second largest airline in the country in such a short period of time. This clearly indicates the appetite that the country has for low cost carriers, and, if we were to go by the current rate of growth we are witnessing, it won’t be long before we become the largest people carrier with the largest fleet offering the largest connectivity and the lowest fares in the country. Amidst the various changes and challenges that we have been through, overwhelming passenger support is one aspect which has remained constant.”

Very recently, Air Deccan placed an order for 96 new aircraft which will be delivered over a period of 96 months. Air Deccan currently operates to 55 destinations across the country with 265 daily flights. Air Deccan currently operates a brand new fleet of 14 Airbus A-320 Aircraft with an average age of 1.5 years and 21 ATR Turboprop Aircraft. Air Deccan was the first and the only airline in the country to fly to destinations which no other airline had dared to operate on.