Indian carrier Jagson Airlines plans to use BAe Avro RJ85 aircraft and is moving into scheduled operations with the help of personnel from rival Indian carrier MDLR Airlines which is grounded.
Koustav Dhar has joined Jagson as CEO and was previously chief operating officer of MDLR which has been grounded since 8 October.
MDLR had three BAe Avro RJ70s, two are still in India and one is Romania where heavy maintenance on MDLR's aircraft is handled, says Dhar.
He says MDLR was enjoying 94% passenger load factors but the business was under-capitalised.
MDLR's owner had other businesses so the carrier had to compete for investment, says Dhar.
The airline's owner was also recently elected minister of home affairs for India's northern state of Haryana so the owner now has less time to devote to MDLR, he adds.
Jagson Airlines, which has been a charter operator since 1991, is also part of a larger conglomerate - Jagson International which is a publicly-listed Indian oil exploration company.
Dhar says Jagson International is committed to ensuring that Jagson Airlines is well funded.
The airline has been providing charter services using Dornier 228 turboprops and Mil helicopters.
Jagson has received its license for scheduled services and will be launching these on 2 February using RJ85s, the first of which is coming in the third week of January and the second in February, says Dhar.
Jagson in the coming days plans to sign a lease, with an option to purchase, says Dhar, who declines to name the lessor but says it is a European-based lessor that has about 15 BAe aircraft in the UK.
He says Jagson has also issued a tender seeking to lease three more RJ85s for delivery next year.
Dhar says several people including pilots have joined Jagson from MDLR.
One of the lessons learnt from the experience at MDLR is the importance of having spares readily available, particularly for landing gears and engines, says Dhar, adding that Jagson is putting together a spare parts pool.
It is also talking to Indian maintenance, repair and overhaul firm Air Works about handling its line and heavy maintenance checks, says Dhar.
MDLR was sending its aircraft overseas to Romania for heavy checks, a scenario that Jagson wants to avoid because it is time-consuming and costly, he says.
Jagson will operate on some routes that MDLR was serving, says Dhar.
The airline is based in New Delhi and will be serving small towns in northern India: Kullu, Shimla, Leh Ladakh, Srinagar, Ranchi, Patna and Raipur, he says.
The RJ85 is suitable because these are short routes and the mountainous terrain means aircraft need to have short take-off and landing capabilities, says Dhar.
Indian low-cost carriers are serving many of these routes using ATR turboprops but Jagson believes it can compete because the jet aircraft is quicker and offers more comfort, he says.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
