Two more privately owned airlines have entered the increasingly busy Indian skies, one adopting the low-cost model and the other targeting the business travel market.
Paramount Airways was the first of the two new carriers to launch services, late in October. It was followed early in November by Go Air.
Coimbatore-based Paramount was established by textile firm Paramount Group and is operating Embraer regional jets. It launched with Coimbatore-Delhi and Kochi-Delhi services and planned to add Coimbatore-Chennai.
Managing director M Thiagarajan says the airline is targeting business travellers by offering premium class services and no economy class. It launched with a single Embraer 170 on lease from the manufacturer and plans to add four more Embraer regional jets over the following six to eight months: one more 170 and three 175s.
Targeting a different market is new Airbus A320 operator Go Air, which is a low-fare airline launched by the Wadia Group conglomerate. It launched services early in November and initially planned to operate on three routes: Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Coimbatore and Mumbai-Goa. Managing director Jeh Wadia says Go intends to expand its fleet to 36 aircraft in three years.
Go was the third new low-fare airline to launch services this year, the others being Kingfisher and SpiceJet. Several other new airlines plan to launch services next year.
NICHOLAS IONIDES/SINGAPORE
Source: Airline Business
