Air Deccan changes tack

NEW DELHI: Deccan, the original low-cost carrier , is changing colour to market itself as a dependable carrier. After a major rebranding exercise, the refurbished airline will now launch a slew of customer-centric initiatives.

It’s the first low-cost airline to introduce ‘tele check-in’ facility for all passengers , who can now reserve a preferred seat through the call centre and avoid the long queues at the airport check-in counters. The airline, which had one of the highest flight delays in the past four years of operations, has improved its on-time performance (OTP) to 79%.

To maintain passenger confidence, the airline has now moved away from its ‘no-fare refund policy’ and launched a cancellation policy, which allows passengers to maintain a rollover account of their ticket money for future travel.

Deccan’s marketing head Nalin Gagrani told ET, “We are following a three-way approach — customer-centric services will remain foremost, followed by better on-time performance and widest network coverage , all at affordable fares. The telechecking marks our entry into technology-driven services. We are soon introducing web check-in service, while SMS-based on-flight status checks are also on the cards.

Based on passenger demands, we have introduced hot meals at nominal charges and moved to leather upholstery seats from the earlier fabric ones.” Deccan which carried the ‘worst flying experience’ tag for long now plans to introduce insurance claims on flight delays and baggage problems, which had been the main woe of the passengers.