Addressing a press conference here, Capt G R Gopinath, Managing Director, Air Deccan said the company has also been allotted 60,000 sq.ft area at Chennai Airport for a hangar.
"We will be investing $5 million for the hangar at Chennai Airport. The land has been alloted," he said.
Air Deccan, which recently placed orders for 32 brand new Airbus aircraft and 30 ATFs (small aircraft), would start the new service next month by extending its Chennai-Madurai flight, Gopinath said, after launching the HPCL-Air Deccan tie-up for the distribution of air tickets at Chennai.
The company's strategy was to focus on second tier cities by starting new services to these cities, he said. The proposed 'software shuttle' service between Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad would begin in the next three months.
"We would be having our flights every hour on the hour between these three cities," Gopinath said. On the tie-up with HPCL, he said the company would sell tickets through 22 petrol stations at Chennai.
The service was earlier launched in Bangalore (March 2005), where the service is available in 10 HPCL stations and in New Delhi (June 2005), where it is available in 30 stations.
