Air Deccan eyes 26% ancillary revenue in 3 yrs

Air Deccan, the Bangalore-based Rs 1,500 crore low-cost airline, is looking at shoring up its ancillary revenues to 26 per cent in the next three years from the present level of 9 per cent.

Ancillary revenues are non-passenger revenues that include catering (water and beverages), selling advertising space in in-flight magazines, collecting excess baggage charges, selling credit cards (at present, Air Deccan's call centre executives sell ICICI Bank credit cards), carrying brand names on the aircraft (Sun Microsystem, Wipro and Wellspun), and sale of merchandise through inflight shopping.

Capt G R Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan, said, "To boost Air Deccan's ancillary revenue, we are going to resell credit cards of other banks and also offer travel insurance products. As we raise our ancillary revenue, we are going to lower the base fare to any destination, following which our fares will be the most competitive."

Air Deccan on Wednesday also announced that it was tying up with Travelguru, a travel portal for providing budget hotel bookings and holiday packages.

"The Air Deccan - Travelguru tie-up will serve as a one-stop shop for travel solutions. It is our constant endeavour to bring down the cost of travel by driving up ancillary revenue. Partnership with a travel portal like Travelguru will increase Air Deccan's ancillary revenue, which has always been a focus area for us," he said.

"Our passengers will be able to get affordable deals from hotels across India, including those in the metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, where rates are amongst the highest in the world," he added.

The tie-up will make it convenient for Air Deccan travelers to select and make reservations in 2,500 hotels, including over 1,500 budget/economy hotels, through the website www.airdeccan.net.