Domestic Flights

Till 1993, the carrier Indian Airlines dominated the Indian domestic flights market. Jet Airways broke this monopoly and a plethora of low-cost domestic flights followed. Air Deccan began the discount “no-frills” flights in 2003. In 2006, Air Deccan gave into extreme competition and was acquired by Kingfisher Airlines. The same year, Jet Airways introduced their low-cost domestic flights with JetLite.

Domestic Flights: Current Status

In June 2009, the number of passengers carried by the nine domestic flights in India recorded a net growth of 5.3%, at 36.94 lakh rupees. The government’s decision to reduce fuel charges gave the domestic flights a new boost.

Indian Domestic Flights

The important players in the domestic segment are:

* Air India: Established in 1953, the Indian Airlines was the first Indian domestic flight. The airline was a merger of 8 domestic flights including, Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Airlines, Indian National Airways and Air Services of India. In 2007, Indian Airlines was amalgamated into National Aviation Company of India Limited and was named Air India.

* Jet Airways: Jet Airways is the largest private sector domestic flights company. It covers more than 50 domestic destinations and six international ones. In 2006, Air Sahara merged with Jet Airways to start the low-cost domestic carrier, JetLite.

* Kingfisher Airlines: This popular Indian luxury airline operates flights to 34 destinations. Kingfisher Airlines acquired considerable shares in Air Deccan in 2007.

* Jet Lite: It is a fleet of 20 aircrafts that operates 141 daily flights connecting 32 Indian destinations, which include Delhi, Kolkata, Allahabad, Chennai, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Indore. Jet Lite also operates flights to overseas destinations, such as Kathmandu and Colombo.

* MDLR Airlines: Functional since 2000, MDLR Airlines operates a fleet of four Avro RJ aircrafts. It connects five destinations in India, namely Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Ranchi and Jodhpur, and have plans to include Goa and Kullu. It is the only domestic airline in India that offers all-vegetarian cuisine to passengers.

* Paramount Airways: Since 2005, Paramount Airways has been connecting different parts of South India, such as Madurai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Cochin and Visakhapatnam.

* GoAir: Established in 2005, with a fleet of four Airbus A-320.

* Jagson Airlines: In 1992, this was the first private airline to avail the benefit of the Open Sky policy of the Government of India.

* Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited: Operates in hilly and far-flung areas of the country to promote of travel and tourism.

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