The Hindu : Front Page : One more flight for Vijayawada

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 23, 2005

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One more flight for Vijayawada

A. Saye Sekhar

VIJAYAWADA: Good news to high flyers and frequent travellers. Air Deccan proposes a new year gift to denizens of Vijayawada. The company has decided to operate another flight between the city and Hyderabad in the morning hours from January. Nitty-gritty of timings and size of the aircraft are being worked out. What's more, you can fly the Air Deccan between the city and Chennai too. The proposed flight will cover the circuit of Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai.

Thanks to the overwhelming patronage by the people of coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, particularly Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari, the 48-seat Air Deccan aircraft, operated between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, attained an enviable 100-per-cent occupancy. While the occupancy ratio was 90 to 95 per cent in the last six months, it went up to 100 per cent in the last two months.

Sale of tickets on

When contacted, Air Deccan's corporate communications head Vijaya Menon said that the company tested the landing and take-off facility for the 72-seat aircraft at the Gannavaram Airport in the last two days. Air Deccan began selling tickets for the 72-seat flight service from Tuesday. The service to Vijayawada proved to be making profit after the base of the aircraft was changed from Bangalore to Hyderabad. Air Deccan introduced its service between Hyderabad and Vijayawada in September 2003. Though people hailed the introduction of a flight service to Vijayawada after a protracted gap, they couldn't enjoy its benefits, as the aircraft used to begin its journey from Bangalore, reach Hyderabad and then here. Therefore, its timings always fluctuated leaving the passengers high and dry. There were numerous occasions when passengers turned their ire against Deccan Airways offices at airports.

Change of base

With uncertainty over its arrival haunting them, passengers had to wait for longer hours at Gannavaram Airport, which is 25 km away from the city. Considering their predicament, the Air Deccan changed the base of the aircraft to Hyderabad, making its operation more certain. The same aircraft is run to Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Bangalore from Hyderabad.

Change of base resulted in the swelling passenger patronage.

The aircraft, which seemed totally unviable for more than a year, turned out to be a profitable venture to the company also. Besides, the concession tickets and offers drew more and more passengers to its fold. Last two months witnessed so much of passenger rush that the company had to turn away at least 20 people trying for the tickets saying that there was `no room.'

Air Deccan currently put Rs. 746 and Rs. 1,000 tickets on offer. At least 10 tickets are booked by people in advance in every service.

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