Air Deccan

History

Air Deccan was launched by Capt. G.R. Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost aviation in India, in 2003. In 2007, the airline began incurring losses and was subsequently acquired by Kingfisher Airlines in 2008. The airline was rebranded first as Simplifly Deccan, then as Kingfisher Red. Kingfisher Airlines itself experienced financial difficulties and accumulated significant losses between 2011 and 2012, eventually shutting down due to bankruptcy.

Despite the rebranding, Gopinath retained ownership of the Air Deccan name and registered the trademark shortly after the acquisition. Meanwhile, the Deccan brand continued to be utilized by Gopinath's air-charter and aircraft maintenance company, Deccan Charters, which had been founded in 1997.

In 2017, the new Air Deccan was relaunched with a focus on regional routes around Gujarat and Maharashtra. In March of the same year, the firm was granted permit to conduct flights for 21 regional air routes in the first round of the Indian Government's regional connectivity scheme, UDAN.

On December 22, 2017, Air Deccan received its scheduled commuter operator (SCO) permit from regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and its first flight, DN 1320, took off for Jalgaon Airport, from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) the following afternoon. In the first phase of operations, Air Deccan planned to connect to Jalgaon, Nashik and Kolhapur Airport from Mumbai and Pune Airport. However, it could not operate a large number of the RCS routes awarded to it due to the company's weak financials.

Scheduled commercial operations were stopped in April 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. As of , the airline remains non-operational.

Destinations

Air Deccan focused on flying to cities with little to no air service where there was minimal competition with major airlines. The airline flew to the following destinations in India:

Fleet

The airline utilised two Beech 1900D aircraft as of December 2017, each of which was equipped with 18 seats.

References

References

1. "Air Deccan ceases operations". [[The Times of India]].
2. "Operations ceased". [[Mint (newspaper).
3. "Air Deccan eyes post-crisis relaunch". [[FlightGlobal]].
4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/air-deccan-ceases-its-operations-all-employees-put-on-sabbatical-without-pay/articleshow/74994496.cms
5. Tilak, Sudha G. (14 November 2020). "The man who made flying affordable to millions of Indians". [[BBC India]].
6. Dhamija, Anshul. (22 January 2018). "Air Deccan: Back in the skies". [[Forbes India]].
7. "CAPA - Air Deccan". CAPA - Centre for Aviation.
8. (24 April 2020). "India's Air Deccan eyes post-crisis relaunch with new aircraft". Flight Global.
9. (15 December 2017). "Aviation pioneer GR Gopinath makes comeback with Air Deccan, to start disruptive Re 1 tickets". [[Business Today (India)]].
10. (24 December 2017). "After KFA collapse, Air Deccan takes off maiden flight to Jalgaon". [[The Pioneer (newspaper).
11. (5 April 2020). "Air Deccan ceases its operations, all employees put on sabbatical.". [[Times of India]].
12. (30 December 2017). "India's Air Deccan, Air Odisha to combine ops".
13. "Air Deccan Flight Schedule". Air Deccan.
14. "Air Deccan".
15. (23 December 2017). "Air Deccan looks to stimulate demand in smaller cities".