Air tickets to be sold through post offices in Karnataka

Flight tickets of low cost airline Air Deccan will now be sold across the counter at the 500 computerized post offices spread across Karnataka.

The Postal Department of Karnataka and Air Deccan entered into an agreement to sell the air tickets of the low budget carrier, which operates more than 350 flights every day, connecting a host of destinations across the country.

Speaking to reporters, Air Deccan’s Executive Chairman G R Gopinath said the pact is aimed at taking air travel to the door-step of the common man in rural parts and smaller towns of the State. “Our tie-up with Department of Posts will give us enhanced visibility and trigger the aspirations of rural Indian taking to the skies”, he said.

Air Deccan had trained over 1,000 postal department employees in the past three months in the process of issuing tickets.

Chief Post Master General of Karnataka Circle Meera Datta said service would be extended about an additional 1,300 post offices in the State, which will be computerized in the next five years. “It the scheme is successful, there is no reason why it should not be replicated in other states of the country”, she said.

The tie-up between Air Deccan and Postal Department in Karnataka is the first of its kind in the entire country. “For the first time, Post offices will sell air tickets”, Meera Datta said.