The Hindu Business Line : Air Deccan earns Rs 552-cr revenue

The Air Deccan Managing Director, Capt G.R. Gopinath, announcing the launch of the Mumbai-Surat-Bhavnagar-Mumbai service at a press conference held in Mumbai on Sunday. - Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , July 18

AIR Deccan, the low-cost carrier that commenced operations in August 2003, has recorded revenues of $120 million (Rs 552 crore) as of March 2004.

According to the Managing Director, Capt G.R. Gopinath, the airline has been in a positive cash flow position for the past two months. Passenger loads across sectors are currently at 83 per cent, with certain sectors such as Bangalore-Hyderabad and Bangalore-Goa recording 100 per cent loads, he said.

Capt Gopinath was speaking at the launch of the airline's Mumbai-Surat-Bhavnagar-Mumbai service, which will bring air services to the diamond centre of Surat.

Commercial operations on the sector will begin on Monday, taking the airline's total number of flights to 54 each day.

The no-frills airline, which has concentrated on connecting small towns with larger cities using a fleet of seven 48-seater ATRs, will begin operations on the trunk routes by the end of July or early August, with 180-seater Airbus A320-200 aircraft, Capt Gopinath said. Initially, the airline plans to deploy these larger capacity craft on the Bangalore-Delhi, Delhi-Mumbai and Bangalore-Mumbai sectors.

Coinciding with the Airbus operations, the airline will also usher in the concept of dynamic pricing of tickets, which will bring airfares on a small percentage of seats on each flight on a par with the cost of rail travel.

Under the Dynafares scheme, the airline will open bookings for any flight 90 days in advance with a starting fare of Rs 500 (plus taxes). The fares will keep moving up closer to the date of departure.

He added that the highest fares will still be 20-30 per cent lower than the fares of full-service airlines.

Passengers will also be able to change their travel dates under the schemes, by paying a rescheduling fees and the difference of fare as applicable on that day.

The airline, which has ordered for three Airbus fleet, will receive the first of these aircraft in Bangalore on Monday. It plans to expand its Airbus fleet to seven by March 2005.

The airline, which currently has seven ATRs, plans to add eight more by March 31, 2005. Having covered the westerns sector, these aircraft will be deployed in the northern and north-eastern sectors.

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