Air Deccan (DKN, Nashik) launched flights out of Kolkata to a number of airports in India's North-East on April 26, 2018, marking the inauguration of operations under the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS or UDAN) in the region, The Times of India has reported.
Initially, the carrier based one Beech 1900D aircraft out of Kolkata, deploying the turboprop on services to each of Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, and Shillong. Following the positioning of a second unit of the type in mid-May 2018, the carrier plans to launch services to Durgapur, Cooch Behar, Bagdogra, and Silchar.
Out of these airports, only Cooch Behar currently does not see any scheduled traffic.
Under the terms of UDAN, a programme which aims to boost air connectivity at India's under- and unserved regional airports, fares for half of the seats for each of the flights will be capped at INR2,500 rupees (USD37) for a one-way flight.
Air Deccan launched operations in December 2017 as a subsidiary of Deccan Charters, initially focusing on UDAN services in the country's West, mostly out of Mumbai International and Nashik. It was one of five operators awarded route authorities during the first round of India's RCS allocations in March 2017 when it secured rights for a total of 21 routes. It did not add further routes during the second round of RCS allocations awarded in late 2017.
The first version of Air Deccan (2003) operated as a low-cost carrier between 2003 and 2008, becoming India's largest such operator at the time. It was then rebranded as Kingfisher Red (Bengaluru International) following a takeover by now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines (Mumbai International) and fully merged into Kingfisher in 2012.
Air Deccan is currently undergoing a process of an operational merger with fellow regional and UDAN-focused specialist Air Odisha (Bhubaneshwar).
