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| Thursday, January 18, 2007 |
| Air Deccan sells 3 lakh Rs 7 tickets |
Low-cost carrier Air Deccan has sold 3 lakh tickets at Rs 7 each. The ultra cheap flight tickets were sold in celebration of the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti and would be available for travel in the months of February and March 2007.
Makar Sankranti marks the onset of summer and is celebrated across India with much gaiety.
The ticket sales had opened on January 14 8 am for travel across all sectors.
"Stimulation of spontaneous and impromptu travel is the basic idea behind releasing tickets at low fares. We want to even out the differences between peak and non-peak travel seasons," Air Deccan managing director G R Gopinath said.
"The travellers should be able to get low fares when they plan to travel and not only in off seasons," he added.
The travellers had to pay taxes over and above the cost of the ticket.
The Indian low-cost carrier is close to break-even, when its results would be announced by the end of this month. The company's board is meeting on January 25 to consider the quarterly results and according to industry analysts the carrier will break-even or makes a "modest profit".
During the previous quarter, Air Deccan had made losses of over Rs 43-crore.
During the quarter ended December 31, 2006 , the carrier made losses to the tune of Rs 35 crore as services were affected by fog. The quarter was otherwise "gainful" revenues surged due to an increase in passenger traffic and better margins. The airline also posted improvement on all the key performance indicators.
The average yield per passenger was Rs 3,200 in December quarter, up from Rs 2,780 in the July-September 2006 quarter. If the carrier makes average revenue of Rs 3,100 per seat, it would break-even.
Air Deccan is also targeting a fleet of 100 ATRs within a decade of operations, even as it is planning to increase fleet size by adding more aircraft. The airline is buoyant on the back of a resurgent market cap, whittling oil prices and further private institutional financing.
According to the company chief operating officer Warwick Brady Air Deccan would continue augmenting its ATR and jet aircraft fleet with ATRs. The company's total number will touch 100 within 10 years of Air Deccan's operations.
This would help the carrier enhance its hinterland route network and operate services to destinations with narrow runways. This would help the carrier access over 300 airports in the country, like Bellary, Hampi and Allahabad.
Air Deccan had added 10 aircraft to its fleet during the past 18 months and is looking at adding one more plane this year.Labels: Business |
| posted by a correspondent @ 5:29 AM |
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