Sahara has targeted a market share of 16-18 per cent in the year 2000. Its present share of domestic skies is 9 per cent.

The airline will have a network of 65 flights a day to 18 destinations in India by February next year. The network is to be serviced by a fleet of nine Boeing aircraft.

``We are very excited about stepping into the new millennium. Sahara plans to double its market share by the end of year 2000,'' Sahara Airlines director Parvez Damania told The Financial Express in an exclusive interview.

The new destinations which Sahara will add next year are Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur and Indore. The airline will also add its fourth daily flight on the lucrative Delhi-Mumbai sector.``Sahara will be very aggressive in wooing the customer on trunk routes. We will have all kinds of value additions. Our fares will be competitive and sensible,'' added chief general manager Kapil Kaul.

The Subrata Roy-promoted Sahara Airlines had triggered a fare war in summer this year by dropping fares on trunk routes, forcing bigger rivals like Jet Airways and Indian Airlines to follow suit. Sahara's current network connects 12 destinations via 28 flights daily. Its fleet consists of six Boeing aircraft, three 737-400s, two 737-200s and one 737-700.

The airline plans to add another Boeing 737-400 in its fleet within this week. Its first brand new Boeing 737-800 is expected to fly straight from the Boeing assembly line in Seattle on December 6 which also marks the airline's third anniversary.

The fleet of nine aircraft will be completed with the arrival of a second new Boeing 737-800 in January. Sahara is acquiring the new aircraft through dry-lease, which is leasing aircraft without crew. It may later purchase these aircraft. Of the nine aircraft, five will be based in Delhi while four are to be based in Mumbai.

Sahara Airlines hopes to benefit from the upswing in the domestic air traffic based on recovery in the economy. It expects a 4-5 per cent growth in domestic air traffic from April 2000 onwards.