Tuesday, November 29 2005 12:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Air Deccan, India's No 01 low cost Airline has constantly been pursuing its vision of 'empowering every Indian to fly'. The airline does so by providing lowest airfares and connecting unconnected cities.

Air Deccan began its operations 2 and a half years ago with 1 aircraft and 1 flight a day, and today the airline connects 44 cities with close to 180 flights spanning the length and breadth of the country.

On 6th December 2005, Air Deccan, will add two more cities, Pune and Srinagar to our aviation map (bookings have opened a month ago) taking the total number of destinations to 46, making it the largest network provider in the country. Indian Airlines connects 41 destinations, Alliance Air -31, Jet Airways - 44 and Sahara 24.

Capt Gopinath commented, "Air Deccan has a vision to provide air connectivity to India, so we connected not just Mumbai and Delhi (which incidentally accounts for 60% of the flights in the country) but also the small airports like Nashik, Vijayawada, Hubli, Belgaum, Jabalpur, Gwalior, and Dehradun".

"The rationale was to tap the potential and wealth of the country, which lies in the hinterland whilst utilizing the vast number of unutilised airports. Providing connectivity within the metros was a no-brainer. My team travelled the length and breadth of the country from Madurai to Agartala to Jammu - opening up sectors".

"Air Deccan's explosive expansion came against all odds- lack of infrastructure, lack of trained manpower, lack of a robust distribution network and yet has grown at an unprecedented phenomenal pace, perhaps making it the fastest growing airline in the country and setting a trend for others to follow".