Star Air to add two aircraft and 70 routes in FY23

Star Air plans to add two new aircraft and a helicopter to its fleet in FY23. It will also add 70 routes and six new destinations, said a top official. 

The aviation industry went through a tough time during the past two yearst. However, according to the latest data, on a year-on-year basis, the industry has registered 59 per cent growth. 

In line with the upward growth trajectory, Star Air has surpassed its pre-Covid growth level. The CEO, Simran Singh Tiwana, said the airline has “reached its pre-Covid level revenue and growth numbers. We have in fact grown by approximately 30 per cent over and above our pre-Covid levels.”

The five-year-old airline, which had three aircraft on its fleet prior to Covid, plans to have five aircraft and three helicopters by the end of FY22. Currently, it operates 44 routes. 

“We are at the plateau of a hockey stick curve, you start something, you put in a lot of effort, it keeps going down, then it comes up, and then it plateaus. So we are now at that stage where we are eying stability,” he said.

Tiwana said that the airline has managed to gain the confidence of its customers, save costs, and was able to grow over the past few years. Now, according to him, is the time to grow. 

In FY23, it plans to add two more aircraft 100+ seater aircraft. Currently, the airline operates 44 routes to 16 destinations. Of the 44 routes it currently operates, at least 80 per cent are Udaan routes (part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Civil Aviation inistry.) 

The regional carrier plans to add 70 routes, and two new destinations in FY23. Star Air mainly operates in tier-2 and 3 cities in the Western, Southern and Central regions in India. It operates to destinations like Belagavi, Hindan, Kalaburagi and Jamnagar, among others. On April 16, Star Air will start a route between Nagpur and Belagavi.

According to February data of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the airline had a passenger load factor of over 77 per cent on average. At leat 70-80 per cent of its load factor comes from tier 3 cities. 

Tiwana said the company plans to expand its horizon in the tier-2 and 3 markets. “Initially, we used to get restless that we immediately after starting a route, we weren’t getting the load factors. Eventually, we realized that we had to spread awareness among people, who would rather prefer taking an overnight bus to their destination to save on hotel costs. So, we made a market in places that did not exist, and there is a lot of potential in this segment. We are making more city pairs and developing them. We want to connect tier-2 to tier 2 cities and connect tier 3 cities to tier 2 cities. We are also planning to connect more tier 2 and tier 3 cities to Delhi.”

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