Date:05/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/04/05/stories/2007040506371100.htm

Back Air Deccan plans flying 12 m passengers next fiscal

Our Bureau

Ties up with Frankfinn for recruiting trained cabin crew

Mumbai April 4 Air Deccan, the country's first low cost carrier, will be flying 12 million passengers in its next financial year starting July 2007.

The Managing Director, Captain G.R. Gopinath, told newspersons on Wednesday that there had been a rise in the number of passengers flown from 5.5 million in the year ending June 2006 to around 8 million till June 2007.

He said the airline would continue to focus on connecting non-metro areas.

New locales

Keeping with its motto — `Simplyfly' — the airline plans to add locales such as Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Shimla and others to its schedule in the near future. He also added Air Deccan would resume its Nashik flights soon.

The airline, a listed company on the stock markets, is looking to increase its revenue from other activities from the extant nine per cent to 25 per cent by the next financial year, he said.

Ancillary activities

Ancillary activities include sale of hotel accommodation, passenger insurance, car rentals and others.

Towards this end, it has recently entered into a tie-up with a travelling portal- travelguru.com, facilitating hotel reservations across 160 cities for its passengers.

Meanwhile, the airline also associated itself with Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training on Wednesday to recruit 400 trained cabin crew staff each year for the next two years.

"The remuneration will be between Rs 18,000 and Rs 22,000 per month initially, which is standard for Air Deccan and will range between Rs 28,000 and Rs 32,000 per month after the completion of one year,'' the Founder and Chairman of Frankfinn, Mr K.S. Kohli, told Business Line.