The Hindu Business Line : Alliance will ‘ensure realistic fares’: Paramount

Chennai, Oct. 14 The Jet-Kingfisher alliance is good for Indian aviation industry, as it will result in reduction of flights and enable fares to go up to “more realistic levels”, says Mr M. Thiagarajan, Managing Director, Paramount Airways.

Asked if the alliance meant that Paramount would face a stronger competitor, Mr Thiagarajan said that Paramount was in a different league and hence was not in competition with other airlines.

“We are in the premium category,” he noted, adding that the airline would not (need to) join any alliance.

Asked how Paramount found the going in these tough times when most airlines are in the red, Mr Thiagarajan said that Paramount had always grown “cautiously, with adequate emphasis on bottom line”.

He said that the airline was neither too big nor too small and was recognised as a brand offering premium services.

No price hike

Asked if Paramount would go in for a fare hike, (in the context of the anticipation that fares would rise to “more realistic levels”), he replied in the negative.

Mr Thiagarajan said that Paramount had always followed a dynamic pricing policy, where each seat was sold on the basis of demand-supply at that point in time. For a one-hour flight, our prices range between Rs 4,000 and Rs 16,000, he said, adding that the fares would never be less than Rs 4,000.

Asked for a comment on rumours that the Director-General of Civil Aviation had sent Paramount a notice because the airline was lax in adhering to schedules, Mr Thiagarajan said that the rumours were entirely false.

The DGCA, he said, has asked information of all airlines in the country seeking details of cancelled flights.

He said that Paramount would launch direct flight between Chennai and Goa on October 22. This would be the airline’s second flight outside South India, after the Chennai-Ahmedabad flight launched last month.

He said that the Chennai-Ahmedabad flight enjoyed load factors of over 80 per cent, “very good in today’s market”.

Mr Thiagarajan said that Paramount would get two more aircraft (Embraer jets) in December.

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