Air Deccan will offer "a few seats every day" for Re 1 each, on sectors such as Bangalore-Delhi, G R Gopinath, managing director of Deccan Aviation, the parent firm, told reporters in Bangalore on Wednesday.
The Bangalore headquartered no-frills airline has also struck a "private deal" with R K Laxman to use the noted cartoonist's creation, the Common Man, as Air Deccan's mascot, Gopinath said. Details of the deal were not available.
Costing of the Re 1 offer will soon be sorted out and it would be offered via the Internet just like the Rs 500-a-ticket "Dynafare" offer that has become popular on the carrier's Airbus routes. "This is no gimmick," Gopinath said, "each flight will have about three seats that will be offered at Re 1."
The company is also exploring "alternate channels" to ensure such tickets reach those who need it most. "I would want the seat to go to say a retired person in Bangalore who might want to visit his daughter in Delhi. But, on the Internet, I can't really stop people from buying a ticket," he said.
Laxman's cartoons was a "reminder to keep our feet firmly on the ground", Gopinath said.
Air Deccan was committed to being a low cost carrier and "we wouldn't want to change that culture within the organisation", he added.
In the two years since it launch, Air Deccan had notched up a million seats, ferrying passengers on one airplane to now 17.
"Starting this month, we will take delivery of one Airbus or one ATR aircraft every month, until all the 32 Airbus aircraft and 30 ATR we are contracted to buy are delivered," he said.
Air Deccan started its operations with one leased turbo-prop aircraft from French aircraft maker ATR. Subsequently it has added aircraft from European civil aircraft maker, Airbus, to its fleet.
"If you buy up all the 180 seats on an Airbus to Delhi from here, the average fare works out to Rs 3,900," Gopinath said, despite offering a few at Re 1. "Instead of offering tickets at prices starting from Rs 500, we will start with Re 1 and use the same process".
o, tickets will be offered at Re 1, Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 2,500 and so on up to Rs 6,000, the maximum on the Bangalore - Delhi flight.
Since the launch of the Dynafare, the Rs 500-a-ticket scheme, Air Deccan had sold some 1,00,000 such tickets.
"A fourth of all our seats are offered at a fourth of the price on a conventional airliner", he said. Today, Air Deccan operates a total of 7,800 seats on 106 flights a day.
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