Low-cost carrier close to profit zone

India's first low-cost air carrier Air Deccan is only just days away from creating history for itself. Aviation industry experts widely expect that when the company's board of directors meet on Thursday, the airline is likely to announce that it has finally flown into the profit zone after three years of relentless effort. It will be a significant success after the airline had to to shell out Rs350 million (Dh29.09 million) because of flight delays caused by fog. Its mission of empowering every Indian to fly at low cost has been successful.
The expectation of Air Deccan being close to breaking even has been substantiated by the company's claim that the airline starts to break even at Rs3,100 per seat, per month.
The year-end holiday season brought about a strong gust of tail wind to Air Deccan's performance. The airline reported an improvement of all the key performance indicators in December 2006.
Average earning per passenger during the month was Rs3,200, which is a significant increase from Rs2,780 reported in the July-September quarter last year.
23/01/07 Chinmay Chaudhuri/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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