Kingfisher sure knows how to remain the ‘King’! In order to produce a decent balance sheet, Air Deccan, India's leading low cost airlines has planned to pull out from all its routes that are rendering losses. The company flies 41 aircrafts at present and operates on the country’s largest network that connects 65 cities. The metro routes would now be taken over by Kingfisher Airlines. Air Deccan shall now cater to non-metro routes according to the new strategy planned by Vijay Mallya’s UB group. This step shall be effective by the end of October this year.
According to sources, it is expected that busy routes like Delhi - Bangalore and Delhi - Mumbai shall be taken over by Kingfisher with its fleet of premium airlines. The routes that shall be given to Air Deccan have not been finalized as of yet. In a meeting held on Monday, Dr. Vijay Mallya said that instead of competing, more stress should be given on clear-cut focus on rationalization process of the airlines. Earlier this year, Vijay Mallya’s UB Group attained a stake of 26% in Air Deccan for an amount of Rs. 550 Crores.
Around mid October, it is expected that Air Deccan would be re-branded and would be given a new image altogether. The name will be changed to Simplify Deccan and the corporate colors shall also be changed to Red - a la Kingfisher. This new image shall be unveiled by Mr. Praful Patel, the civil aviation minister of India around the time its new routes are announced. It is said that Air Deccan incurred losses due to its numerous promotional schemes that offered cheap fares to people over a long duration.
