Air Deccan, Air Odisha join hands to save costs  

Mumbai : Air Deccan, which recently commenced operations with flight services to Jalgaon, has forged a partnership with Air Odisha under which the two carriers will share each other’s network and resources to minimise costs. While Air Deccan received aviation regulator DGCA’s nod last week, allowing it to fly on designated routes under the government’s regional connectivity scheme, Air Odisha is expected to receive its flying permit some time mid-January next year. “We have combined to get economy of scale in various areas including flight operations and training. Air Deccan which has experience and expertise (in running an airline) will handle all that at the back end,” Air Deccan chief Capt. G R Gopinath told PTI on Wednesday. He said the areas of cooperation covers aircraft procurement, leases, maintenance, IT systems, pilot and engineer training and flight operations, inventory, among others. Both Air Deccan and Air Odisha had bagged 34 and 50 routes, respectively, in the first round of the bidding for Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (Udan) scheme in March this year.