Kingfisher Red - History

History

Air Deccan was a wholly owned subsidiary of Deccan Aviation. It was started by Captain G. R. Gopinath as India's first low-cost carrier and its first flight took off on 23 August 2003 from Bangalore to Hubli. It was known popularly as the common man's airline, with is logo showing two palms joined together to signify a bird flying. The tagline of the airline was "Simpli-fly," signifying that it was now possible for the common man to fly. The dream of Captain Gopinath was to enable "every Indian to fly at least once in his lifetime." Air Deccan was the first airline in India to fly to second tier cities like Hubballi, Mangalore, Madurai and Visakhapatnam from metropolitan areas like Bangalore and Chennai.

Air Deccan's phenomenal growth spurred the entry of more than half a dozen low-cost air carriers in India. Later, as Kingfisher Red, the airline faced stiff competition from SpiceJet, IndiGo Airlines, Jet Lite and GoAir. The growth of these low-cost air carriers has also forced mainstream domestic Indian airlines to lower their fares.

On 25 January 2006, Deccan went public by filing a red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Deccan planned to offload 25 percent of its stake in the initial public offering (IPO) that opened on 18 May. However, due to the stock market downturn at that time, Air Deccan's IPO barely managed to scrape through, even after extending the issue closing date and reducing the price band. In a statement to the National Stock Exchange of India, Air Deccan reported a net loss of Rs 3.4 billion ($74 million) for the 15-month period between 1 April 2005 and 30 June 2006. It originally hoped to break even in the current financial year but executives were quoted in the local media saying it now did not expect to post profits until 2008 as a result of intense competition following the launch of several other new airlines. Air Deccan turned profitable on the back of a strong October–December 2006 quarter, posting a profit of Rs. 9.64 crores (a little more than US$ 2 million).

On 27 February 2007, Air Deccan switched to US-based airline reservations hosting service provider Radixx International, becoming the second major domestic Indian carrier after GoAir to switch to the Radixx Air Enterprise reservation system. Before moving to the Radixx reservation system, Air Deccan was using a reservation system provided by the Delhi-based InterGlobe Technologies.