Air Deccan logs onto India Post

Bangalore: Pioneering low cost carrier, Air Deccan, has made another innovative push to expand market share by partnering with India Post for the sale of its tickets at post offices around the country. Air Deccan was the first airline to tap petrol pumps, retail outlets, online kiosks and web outlets as channels for ticketing, making air tickets accessible round the clock for customers in the country.

The venerable 150-year old India Post, operates more than 150,000 post offices around the country, which is also the largest postal network in the world. This network accesses the entire population of the country. So far, India Post has 5000 Internet-enabled post offices, but Air Deccan has contracted to make its tickets available only across 500 of these offices across the State of Karnataka.

As per an official release, Deccan Aviation, executive chairman, Captain Gopinath said, "India Post has woven itself into the very fabric of rural India, penetrating deep into the bowels of the country, providing much needed connectivity. Our plans of making every Indian to fly will come to fruition and inclusive growth of the economy will take place when we can make the flights and tickets available to the common man living in rural India. Our tie up with India Post will give us enhanced visibility and trigger the aspirations of the rural Indian which will reflect in increased number of rural Indians taking to the skies."

He further added, "This alliance will assist both organizations to achieve the common goal of reaching out to the common man. It will benefit India Post in generating additional revenue with their existing infrastructure. Our model is largely driven by availability of Internet and credit card, this tie up will ensure that our tickets are available to the Indians residing in rural India where the penetration of both is comparatively lesser, enabling people to make cash payments at the Internet driven India Post offices".