| "At present, we are only short of Rs 200 per seat in terms of earnings. With more set of people opting, we expected that difference in coming months. The company may turn profitable by the December quarter though we cannot set a timeframe," said Managing Director G R Gopinath. |
| Air Deccan, which had flown 5.50 million passengers last year, is aiming at flying 12 million passengers by 2009. "This year Air Deccan will carry 8 million passengers. We need to see more Indians opting for air travel. Currently, airlines are selling only 30 million seats a year against a potential of 250 million passengers," Gopinath said. |
| The company is also planning to increase the ancillary revenues to 25 per cent from current 9 per cent as the airline business is witnessing more competition coupled with unrelenting aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices. |
| "The increase in ancillary revenues would come from outsourcing of various activities, growth in sales of hotel booking, car rentals and travel insurance," he said. |
| Meanwhile, Air Deccan has tied up with Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training for cabin crew. Under this exclusive cabin crew recruitment agreement, only Frankfinn's students will be recruited by Air Deccan as cabin crew. Frankfinn will be providing as many as 400 placements as cabin crew each year during the contract period with Air Deccan as part of the agreement. |
| Air Deccan will also provide on-board live training to all Frankfinn students. The contents of the inflight training will be pre-decided by Air Deccan and students will undergo two flights as per roster. On completion of the training, the students will be issued a certificate by Air Deccan. |
| At present, an average of 30 trained crew members are required per aircraft. At the current pace of growth, with the industry's fleet strength expected to reach 900 from the present 350 by 2009, the aviation industry would require 7,500-8,000 cabin crew per year. |
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