Traveling by air had always been considered a novelty as far as domestic travelling was concerned.
The big three of Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara actually shared a monopoly between them and dictated the terms.
Then Air Deccan revolutionized things. The success of this small airline company that basically boasts of 12 ATRs and 2 320s resulted in a price war.
Air Deccan was followed by the Spice Jet and the Vijay Mallya invested Kingfisher Airlines.
The three new Airliners are called “THE NO FRILLS AIRLINES”, and they mean what they advertise. The main emphasis is not on the food or the other goodies or beautiful air hostesses. The main aim for these carriers is to transfer a person from Point A to Point B safely and quickly.
When traveling on the Air Deccan in one of their minute ATRs from Mumbai to Baroda,
I started reading the on board magazine.
The people at Air Deccan have given very clear explanation of how Air Deccan manages to keep the rates so low.
Here are a few instances.
1)Air Deccan uses ATRs (Small aircrafts). This reduces landing charges by 50%.
2)The time between landing and re take off for normal A 380s is 50-55 minutes. Air Deccan has reduced this time to 20 minutes resulting in more trips hence greater profits.
3) The no. of crew on flight is just one captain and a flight attendant. This reduces the wage bill considerably.
4) The flight does not offer food or drinks. Any passenger wishing to have something on the flight has to buy it. The food component price is therefore excluded from the ticket price.
5)The tickets issued are just a plain sheet of A4 paper that prints all details. Hence a lot is saved on the stationary part.
The Airline has its flaws. The space is cramped and the flight crew is inexperienced.
But for the price that I pay for the travel and the time that I save, I would certainly recommend Air Deccan.
I have not used the other No Frills Airlines but with cut throat competition all around, I am sure that no one would be compromising on any aspect.
I would like to conclude that carriers like Air Deccan are welcome for the Indian passengers. They have certainly done their bit to make air traveling a lot economical and satisfying.