Bangalore: Deccan Aviation Private Limited (DAPL), the country's largest air charter company in the private sector with nine operational bases including the latest one in Jammu and Kashmir in Katra, Jammu for Vaishno Devi operations is all set to launch "low cost, no frills, world class regional airline", a top official of DAPL said.

The airline which will be launched in May, will connect the emerging regional centres in the South which are presently unconnected or poorly connected to large metros, Deccan Aviation managing director captain G R Gopinath said.

In the wake of liberalisation, there is "tremendous potential" for this kind of a regional airline with people racing against time. And "even if we can tap five to 10 per cent of the railway market, it is big", Gopinath said.

India with a total population of one billion has only 400 to 450 commercial flights a day, "while US, with one fourth of India's population has 40,000 commercial flights day", he said.

Ideally, India should be having 1.6 lakh flights. However, even if India can achieve one per cent of it, "we will need 1,600 flights a day which we can hope to achieve only within four to five years at the present rate", Gopinath said.

Among the various available airlines, DAPL has zeroed in on Canadian aircraft Bombardier-8-100, the world's largest regional business aircraft manufacturer, which are 35-seater aircraft. These are excellent for short hauls, can land in short runways, very advanced and rugged. These also have pressurised stand-up cabins with cargo capabilities, he said.

DAPL is planning to import six of these and will be covering Bangalore-Hyderabad- Chennai sector, connecting places of economic as well as tourist importance like Mysore, Hampi, Hubli, Belgaum, Vijayawada, Rajamundry, Puttaparthi, Coimbatore and Calicut. "We are planning to launch four aircraft by mid-May and by October, will induct two more so that connectivity can be strengthened either by covering more areas or providing greater frequency of flights," Gopinath said.

A regional airline can contribute a great deal to economic, industrial and also human resource development as the time factor is extremely important in today's world.

"We are not taking away customers from the existing trunk routes but on the contrary tapping new markets and new segment of travellers who are price sensitive and not travelling by air at present," he said.

DAPL aims to make "travel affordable for this segment by introducing an airline whose business model is low-cost", Gopinath added.

PTI