Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Deccan-India Post sign agreement for ticket booking

CHENNAI: Low-cost carrier Deccan on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India Post for booking of tickets for Deccan flights in 247 post offices in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The initiative will help Deccan expand its customer base beyond metro cities into the rural hinterland, Capt. G.R. Gopinath, executive chairman, Deccan Aviation, said Thursday.

The airline was seeking to introduce greater connectivity to Tier-II towns and cities. “There are 1.55 lakh post offices in the country,” he said. “They are the veins, arteries and nerves of the country, and the only way to reach the remotest village is through its post office.”

Starting April 11, bookings for Deccan flights can be made in the Internet-enabled post offices in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi and smaller towns and districts such as Perambalur, Thanjavur, Mannargudi, Neyveli, Vriddachalam, Woraiyur, Dindigul and Coonoor. India Post will get a five per cent remuneration on tickets sold.

The second phase of the initiative will see the facility being introduced in many more of the 900 Internet- and computer-enabled post offices in the Tamil Nadu postal circle, Indira Krishnakumar, Principal Chief Postmaster-General, Tamil Nadu Circle, said.

Ms. Krishnakumar said two people in each office would be “intensively trained” by Deccan.

Plans to enable railway ticket booking in post offices were also under consideration.

“Our idea is to make post offices vibrant and dynamic organisations that are one-stop solutions for many things.”

The tie-up follows the airline’s similar agreement with post offices in Karnataka, where Deccan tickets are available in more than 500 Internet-enabled post offices.

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