Air Pegasus has received interest from certain airlines in the Gulf to purchase stake in the company. Shyson Thomas, Managing Director of Air Pegasus, told BusinessLine that talks are on with a few carriers for picking up equity stake, though he did not disclose names.

The regional airline, said Thomas, plans to raise ₹200 crore to expand operations and add another four 72-seater ATR-72-500 before the end of the calendar year. He said he is exploring the option of raising funds through the ECB/FCB route.

As per civil aviation regulations, a foreign airline can pick up as much as 49 per cent stake in a domestic carrier. Singapore Airlines as well as Malaysia–based AirAsia hold 49 per cent stake in Vistara and AirAsia India respectively.

Air Pegasus, which began operations in April 2015, has three ATR aircraft in its fleet, with another one joining in next month. It plans to take four more on lease by December. The average lease cost for ATRs is about ₹85 lakh per month.

Current operations

The airline flies to six cities and operates 16 flights daily. It plans to expand operations to Kochi, Pudicherry, Vijaywada and a few other cities in South India soon.

The carrier targets 50 aircraft in its fleet within five years, with plans to hire another 20 pilots once the fleet is expanded. Currently, it has 12 pilots and 20 first officers.

The load factor is about 82 per cent and it has so far flown 2.8 lakh passengers so far.

The airline is owned by Décor Aviation, part of the Décor Group of Companies, which currently provides ground handling services to Indian and foreign carriers across 11 airports in the country. In an earlier interview to this newspaper, Thomas had said the airline was on a recovery path with very less debt on its books.

He pointed out that regional players will play a larger role and national carriers will be forced to tie up with them.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW