Air Deccan Looks To Stimulate Demand In Smaller Cities
Air Deccan says it wants to target those flight routes where bigger players are reluctant to go.
Air Deccan will aim to stimulate air travel demand in smaller cities rather than competing with big players as it looks to ride the country’s economic boom, its founder Captain G R Gopinath said today ahead of the launch of its maiden flight under India’s regional air connectivity scheme.
Nearly a decade after bidding adieu to scheduled air services, Air Deccan will be starting its services on Mumbai-Jalgaon route from today. Air Deccan’s flight comes under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) which seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports.
The dream is big. We are not competing with big players. It is a different market we are getting into.Captain G R Gopinath, founder, Air Deccan
Gopinath further said that Air Deccan’s focus would be on areas where the bigger players are “reluctant to go or at least they have no strategy for those markets”. He added, “They are looking at a different market, I am looking at a different market”.
In June 2008, when Air Deccan merged with Kingfisher Airlines, which was the largest player in the domestic space. It had services to more than 76 destinations, out of which 30 were smaller cities, with a fleet of 33 Airbus and 12 ATR aircraft.
Gopinath said now Air Deccan wants to “ride the the economic boom”, adding that the revamped airline is now ready to take on “the big challenge”. Gopinath is credited with pioneering low-cost flying in the country in the early 2000s with Air Deccan.
Currently, the airline has a fleet of three 19-seater Beachcraft B-1900D aircraft. It received the permit to operate commuter flights on Friday. Air Deccan bagged 34 routes in the first round of bidding under UDAN. Besides Jalgaon, it would connect Nashik and Kolhapur.
He said between Air Deccan and its strategic partner Air Odisha, they will have 108 daily flights from across 67 airports in the next 5-6 months, operated by a combined fleet of 12 aircraft.
