Air Deccan simulator facility by April 2007

Air Deccan, the country's leading low cost airline, has identified 25 acres land near the upcoming international airport at Devanahalli, about 28 kms from here, for setting up its flight simulators.

The proposed simulators (one each for Airbus and ATR aircraft) will cost $29 million, Air Deccan, managing director, Capt G R Gopinath said.

The flight simulators, being acquired from Canadian firm CAE, are expected to be operational in April 2007. "We have signed a contract with CAE to supply two simulators. For the first six months, they will be operated by professionals from CAE before handing it over to us," he told Business Standard.

A simulator is a machine which is similar to the cockpit of an aircraft and can simulate conditions that a pilot could encounter during the actual flight. As of now, Air Deccan is sending pilots to Airbus facility at Toulouse in France for training. In the process the company spends quite a good amount while sending their pilots abroad for training.

He said the company is in the process of setting up a 'maintenance, repairs and overhaul' (MRO) facility near Bangalore. According to Gopinath the company is making itself immune to any adverse changes in the market by building up size.

Air Deccan has a fleet of 37 aircraft today and plans to raise this to 57 by the end of the next financial year and it has 400 pilots.

"Initially we plan to run the facility for inhouse training keeping in mind the growing need for pilots as we keep adding more aircraft and destinations. We will keep adding more simulators and then start a training centre," Gopinath said.

With number of aircraft rising in the country, it is reaching a critical mass and it will be sensible to have an MRO. Gopinath said: "People are talking to us and we may look at it in the near future."

Air Deccan which became the second largest scheduled airline surpassing Indian has now set its sights on the number one position. It announced the campaign WOW, starting on September 19 enroute to becoming the biggest airline.

As part of the campaign "if our flight is delayed for more than three hours, the company will give a free ticket without applying any conditions," said Warwick Brady, COO, Air Deccan.