Chandigarh, March 25, 2005
It seems that Indus Airways might just have won the
first round of the air war against Air Deccan.
While Air Deccan has been dilly-dallying its launch
despite making an announcement last year, Indus Airways
has already got permission from the Civil Aviation
Ministry to start the service and plans to launch
its Delhi-Chandigarh service next month.
Indus Airways officials told Newsline that the airline
has even fixed the flight schedule between Delhi and
Chandigarh. Officials said all the formalities for
the launch have been completed, and the service would
be started anytime in April.
On the other hand, Air Deccan, despite making an
announcement more than four months ago, has kept on
postponing the launch repeatedly for one reason or
another. Air Deccan was to have launched its service
to Delhi in February, but failed to do so.
The airline also had to face embarrassment last month
when despite selling tickets it failed to launch the
flight and left a number of passengers disappointed.
The launch was rescheduled for March 7, but was postponed
indefinitely.
Vijya Menon, Air Deccan, Manager, Corporate Communications,
told Newsline a disagreement over flight timings had
led to the delay in the launch.
She said that Air Deccan was given a time before
6 in the morning, which was not acceptable.
Menon said that talks were on with airport officials
and added that the airline was asking for ‘‘suitable
timings’’ so that passengers do not have
to suffer.
Menon denied any major hurdle that was leading to
the consistent postponement of the launch.
Indus Airways is also offering low air fare compared
to Air Deccan on advance bookings and has also decided
to offer food on board.
While Air Deccan would charge Rs 500 to Delhi on
a first-come-first-serve basis, Indus Airways has
kept the rate as low as Rs 450.
Indus Airways has been launched by Kapil Mohan,
owner of Mohan Meakins, and an NRI businessmen. The
airline would have its base in Chandigarh and Amritsar.
(Express India)
