Deccan Aviation pushing for airports' upgrade in tier II cities

Deccan Aviation is looking at the possibility of partnering infrastructure firms in an effort to speed up the process of improving the facilities of airports in small cities. Gopinath, Executive Chairman, Deccan Aviation, said that they are talking to various stakeholders to for this.

He added that he had met several Karnataka state ministers including chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, deputy CM B S Yediyurappa and Karnataka Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu on this issue.

At present, Hassan, Shimoga, Gulbarga and Bidar are the possible locations where these airports might come up. Explaining the concept of airports at these cities, Gopinath said, "The focus should be more on the quality of runways and instrument, and less on the terminals. One should be able to build the airport for less than Rs 20 crore."

He added that the government must also permit the construction of technology parks and industrial estates around the airport to fuel the growth of the area.

"This will enable us to attract investments to the region," he said.

Meanwhile, in an effort to increase the point of sale of Air Deccan tickets, the company announced a tie-up with India Post for the sale of airline tickets at 500 Internet-enabled post offices across the State.

They hope to achieve ticket sales of Rs 1 lakh per outlet.