India's first true no-frills airline Air Deccan ( http://www.airdeccan.net )took off on August 25, 2003. What's unique about Air Deccan is that:

1) It connects small towns in South India which till now were not on the aviation map.
2) Offers fares as low as 50% as compared to fares of other airlines and nearly equivalent to the first class fare on the railways.
3) It lobbied actively the Govts. of AP and Karnataka to reduce the sales tax on fares from 25% to 0% and 4% respectively.
4) It got the Govt. of Karnataka as a captive customer - the GoK has issued a directive that to officers who holds the rank of a tahsildar or above, to travel by Air Deccan for official purpose.
5) The airline operates aircraft with a skeleton staff - only one cabin crew and two pilots. Add to this the airline doesn't provide any refreshments on board, if you want a sandwhich during your flight, you got to buy it. This cuts on costs.
6) Operating 48 seater ATR aircrafts cuts on break-even.
7) One of the most significant innovations done by Air Deccan is to emblazon their aircraft with Sun Microsystem's and Java's logo - all of this for a fee that Sun pays Air Deccan. Catalogues and product promotion material on Sun's products is provided during the flight -notice how you would catch a potential customer's attention, especially when a significant proportion of your clientele are going to be software pros, primarily since Air Deccan has Bangalore as its hub. Bhaskar Pramanik, MD of Sun said that this promo campaign fits in well for both the companies as both provide customers with value for money products and services. Such promos can only push down Air Deccan's breakeven, which will be a test-case for no-frills air travel in India, which undoubtedly has great economic benefits. Let's wait and see how things in this industry shape up.

Regards Rajjjj