The Hindu Business Line : Air Dravida plans to fly from January

New Delhi, Sept 10 In a few months, air travellers in south India will have the choice of flying another airline, with the Chennai-based Air Dravida planning to launch operations from January.

Mr Ramachandran Iyer, Executive Director, told Business Line that the airline hopes to get all Government clearances by the month-end and start services early next year, connecting Chennai with Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.< /p>

The airline, which is already in talks with a manufacturer to lease three Canadian Regional Jet aircraft, also plans to operate flights connecting towns in Tamil Nadu to the State Capital.

Frequent flights

The idea is to launch a single-class configuration airline that offers frequent flights on short-haul routes.

Within the first six months of starting operations, the airline plans to operate two flights a day connecting Chennai with Madurai, Kochi, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram.

In addition, the airline plans to offer three flights a day between both Bangalore and Hyderabad from Chennai, Mr Iyer said.

The aircraft being leased by the company would be 3-5 five years old and seat 50 passengers. Taking advantage of the new regional airline policy announced by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) late last month, Air Dravida applied for a regional airline licence recently.

The airline plans to price its offering around the same level as the existing full-service carriers.

Pricing

“The incentives given to regional airlines operating small aircraft in terms of waiver in landing and parking charges, and aviation turbine fuel being available at four per cent sales tax throughout the country, is more than offset by the withholding tax that the Government imposes on import of aircraft.” Mr Iyer said.

“Where is the scope of offering low air fares?”

During the initial six months, the airline will invest Rs 40 crore from internal accruals.

“The monies would be used for setting up infrastructure and a small engineering base,” officials said.