The first regional jets in India are due to be flying by the end of this month after Air Sahara took delivery of its first leased Bombardier CRJ200.
The aircraft arrived in India last week and is to be put into service on 28 February. The ex-Midway Airlines CRJ200 has been leased through Bombardier and will be joined by two others this month and early in March.
Air Sahara chief executive Uttam Kumar Bose says the carrier is planning to add four more CRJ200s by the end of April and is finalising a lease deal with Flybe in the UK.
The airline currently operates 11 Boeing 737s but has been planning an expansion with regional jets for more than a year to build up a domestic feeder network.
Bose says the seven CRJ200s will operate services to smaller cities from Bangalore, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi in the mornings and evenings, while in the afternoons they will operate between the major cities.
Air Sahara also plans to add larger regional jets such as 70-seat CRJ700s in future, although there are no immediate plans, he adds.
The carrier is the second-largest private airline in India after Jet Airways and the third-largest domestic operator after Jet and state-owned Indian Airlines.
While Air Sahara will be the first operator of regional jets in India with its 50-seat CRJ200s, Jet is planning to start operating larger Embraer 175s next year.
Last year it signed a letter of intent to purchase 10 of the 70-seaters and take 10 options, for delivery between 2004 and 2007, and a final purchase agreement is expected to be signed soon.
Source: Flight International
