The first Air Deccan flight will take off on 22 December and fly to Mumbai from Nashik, Gopinath told Mint, speaking from his home in Bengaluru.
Air Deccan, India’s first domestic low cost airline, is set to relaunch operations this month with what it is remembered for the most—Re1 airfares.
Air Deccan, founded by G.R. Gopinath in 2003, merged with Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines in 2008, which was grounded in 2012 under financial duress.
In its second innings, the airline will begin with four bases at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong, connecting them with smaller cities around them.
The government’s Udan scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), which loosely translates as “let the common man fly” and proposes to connect small towns on fares of about Rs2,500 for a one-hour flight, has provided that entry for the entrepreneur. Air Deccan, which has the tagline “Simplifly”, will brand its entry with a “the common man takes to the skies” logo designed by cartoonist the late R.K. Laxman.
“Some of the initial lucky people will be able to get Re1 fares also,” Gopinath said, even though most tickets will start at about Rs1,400 for a 40-minute Nashik-Mumbai flight, a distance that would take four hours to cover by road.
Air Deccan will also operate daily return flights between Nashik Airport and Pune and Mumbai and Jalgaon.
By January, the airline plans to station a second aircraft in Delhi to connect the city with Agra, Shimla, Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Dehradun and Kullu.
Air Deccan will also station two planes in Kolkata, flying them to Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bagdogra, Burnpur, Cooch Behar, Agartala, and from Shillong to Imphal, Dimapur, Aizawl and Agartala. It will use 19-seater Beech 1900 D planes that are used worldwide. Three of these planes have already joined its fleet and two more will be added over the next few weeks, according to Gopinath.
Air Deccan will also operate daily return flights between Nashik and Pune and Mumbai and Jalgaon.
You can do booking online from http://www.airdeccan.co.in/
