Budget Airlines finally in India
Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 @ 5:59 PM CET by sn26567
Alistairbastian writes ''Indian skies are set to witness an invasion of budget carriers in early 2005 with the government granting three low-cost airlines - Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airways, the Wadia family's Go Air, and Royal Airlines (former Modiluft) - permission to take flight. The civil aviation ministry last week granted its no-objection certificate to the three carriers, which will enable them to launch scheduled flight operations in India by early 2005, government sources said.
This will mark a fresh round of fare wars in the domestic aviation market with all 3 players promising to introduce services at fares that are about 25-30% cheaper than existing rates. Of the 3, Go Air seems to be the first to take to the skies with an official launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2005. While Mallya plans to launch his airline venture by April next year, Royal Air is slated to take off a month later in May. ''We will be starting our airline operations with a fleet of leased aircraft and substantial investments will be made in the venture,'' said Jehangir Wadia, director of the Wadia group, which also includes Britannia and Bombay Dyeing. ''Though we have named the venture Go Air for now, we are conducting consumer studies to finalise the brand for the airline.'' Meanwhile, Mallya is in the process of inducting brand new Airbus A320 aircraft for his venture. The liquor baron intends to introduce new concepts aboard his airline, which will include on-board auctions and model hunts, besides providing individual inflight entertainment systems for passengers. The aircraft will also be equipped with inflight communication systems like phone, fax and internet. The new promoters of erstwhile Modiluft - now renamed Royal Airways - have decided to shed frills in its new avatar. The airline is in the process of finalising financing options for taking to the skies next year.''
