Air Deccan (first era)[]
2003–2007[]
Air Deccan was the first true low-cost airline in India. It was founded by Captain G.R. Gopinath in 2003 with the aim of enabling the common man to fly.
Three more Indian low-cost airlines were launched in the next three years—SpiceJet and GoAir in 2005 and IndiGo in 2006—and they proved to be much more popular than Air Deccan. IndiGo, specifically, became the biggest airline in the country in the mid-2010s in terms of passengers carried and fleet size, and has had over a 40% domestic market share for the past few years.
Simplifly Deccan[]
2007–2008[]
Full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines acquired Air Deccan in 2007. The airline’s slogan, Simplifly, was now made a part of its name, and it was now referred to as ‘Simplifly Deccan’.
Kingfisher Red[]
2008–2012[]
Kingfisher Airlines decided to scrap the Air Deccan brand in 2008. On 29 August 2008, Air Deccan was renamed to Kingfisher Red and was made a full low-cost subsidiary of Kingfisher. However, this move proved counterproductive, as it only hastened the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines in October 2012.
Air Deccan (second era)[]
2017–present[]
Captain Gopinath resurrected Air Deccan in December 2017 as a regional airline flying to small, remote and underserved airports in India. Instead of a fleet of Airbus A320s and ATR turboprops that the original Air Deccan operated, the new Air Deccan operates a handful of Beechcraft aircraft that seat up to 18 people.
The logo is largely identical to that of the original Air Deccan, except that there is no blue circle around the pair of hands symbolising a plane taking flight, and that the revived slogan (Simplifly) is not centre-aligned with the Air Deccan text, but rather aligned with the pair-of-hands symbol.