Comments
Sanjay Ghodawat Group, the parent company of Star Air, plans to add four more aircraft to its fleet as part of its strategy to increase revenue from ₹250 crore in FY23 to ₹700 crore in FY24.
The Group operates in nine sectors, including power, retail, and FMCG, and is expected to make ₹3,000 crore in 2023. Of this, the aviation business will be 10 per cent of the group’s revenues, said the Managing Director, Shrenik Ghodawat.
Star Air will complete four years of operations this year and is operating in line with the company’s growth expectations. Ghodawat said, “Our aim at Star Air has always been to keep things simple and keep costs low. We’ve been operating profitably for the last three years and will continue to do so. We are targeting the niche segment and will continue growing in regions where there is limited competition.”
According to Shrenik, despite the impact of Covid-19, Star Air contributed a net revenue of ₹250-260 crore in FY23, which is close to 10per cent of the company’s total net profits of ₹3,000 crore.
Also read: Jet Airways’ lenders insist on international traffic rights clearance before ownership transfer
Speaking about Star Air’s expectations for FY24, he said, “Our aviation business is growing and we plan to add four aircraft to our fleet. We’re aiming to triple our revenue, targeting Rs 650-700 crore from aviation next year.”
‘Well-cushioned’
When asked about the company’s plans for capital investment in FY24, Shrenik said, “Star Air is well-cushioned. We set aside a specific amount for the company each year and have a clear plan for generating free cash flows.”
Star Air currently operates scheduled flights to 18 Indian destinations using its 5 Embraer E145 aircraft. The destinations include Ahmedabad, Ajmer (Kishangarh), Bengaluru, Belagavi, Delhi (Hindon), Hubballi, Indore, Jodhpur, Kalaburagi, Mumbai, Surat, Tirupati, Jamnagar, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhuj, Bidar, and Kolhapur.
On the airline’s operations plan for the coming fiscal year, Shrenik said, “In FY24, we plan to expand to 20 destinations and increase flight frequencies to existing destinations. Despite facing supply chain issues like the rest of the industry, we’ll be operating at full capacity in 18-20 cities. We’ll focus on connecting rural areas to metros, with a sweet spot being routes within one-to-two-hour flight distances. We’re not competing with the major airlines, but with buses and trains, to minimize travel time.”
He added that in the coming fiscal, the regional airline will add four aircraft to its fleet.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.