Indian regional low-cost start-up Air Deccan is seeking to establish itself as the third private airline operating on domestic trunk routes.
Air Deccan managing director Capt G R Gopinath says the carrier plans to lease Airbus or Boeing narrowbodies for its expansion on to domestic trunk routes. At the same time, he says, the airline plans to boost its fleet of ATR 42-300 turboprops.
Gopinath says talks are being held with several parties to lease four Airbus A320s or four Boeing 737-400s, adding that he hopes the first can arrive in around June. "We plan to put them on the trunk routes, such as Bangalore-Delhi and Bombay-Delhi," he says.
Gopinath adds that although this will put Bangalore-based Air Deccan into direct competition with state-owned Indian Airlines and the two established private carriers, Air Sahara and Jet Airways, "we'll have a different model", as aircraft will be configured in all-economy class layouts. "It will be the same as for the ATRs - low cost, no frills," says Gopinath.
Air Deccan was launched as India's first no-frills scheduled airline in August, using ATR 42s to secondary cities in the south of the country that were either poorly served or not served at all.
By the end of January its fleet was expected to have increased to seven ATR 42s, all on lease from the manufacturer. The carrier is also seeking to lease five more of the type, says Gopinath, for delivery by the end of April.
He says that the additional ATR 42s will be used to boost existing services in the south of the country and to provide feed to its planned trunk route operations.
Source: Airline Business
