Low cost airline Air Deccan on Tuesday said it plans to fly over four million passengers in the next financial year, four times more than the one million people it has flown since inception 18 months ago.
"Today, we have flown one million passengers since we launched our service with one aircraft 18 months ago. We will fly four million passengers next fiscal (2005-06)," Air Deccan managing director G R Gopinath told reporters in Bangalore after launching with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, an offer enabling consumers to buy its tickets at select HPCL petrol pumps.
The Bangalore-based Air Deccan now flies 18 aircraft on 106 routes daily and plans to add 100 flights every year over the next five years.
Gopinath said nearly 40 per cent of Air Deccan passengers on any flight were first time flyers, who have bought tickets at lower rates than conventional carriers.
The no-frill Air Deccan sells 40 per cent of its tickets through the Internet and a business model of different pricing levels for tickets has been evolved by the carrier.
Gopinath said the airline will add 68 aircraft including 32 new Airbus 320 aircraft to its fleet beginning May, along with increasing destinations.
HPCL director (retail) S P Chaudhry said the petrol station owners earn a five per cent commission, an additional revenue stream, for selling Air Deccan tickets, while increasing the number of points where the tickets could be bought for the airline.
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