Turbo Megha Airways, which operates budget airline Trujet, plans to double its fleet to 10 ATR-72 aircraft and add 10 more destinations to its network of 20 destinations by the end of 2019.

Starting with two ATR-72 aircraft in July 2015, Trujet now operates 5 ATR-72 aircraft in its fleet and connects 20 destinations in India.

Celebrating its fourth anniversary on Friday, Trujet, currently, has the largest share of its capacity (73 per cent) deployed on UDAN (Ude Deshka Aam Naagrik) routes.

The UDAN scheme is the Prime Minister’s initiative to stoke socio-economic development in rural India by providing air connectivity to the economic centres of the country.

K V Pradeep, Director on Board Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited, said, “Over the past four years, Trujet has been able to create its own niche in the regional connectivity space. We are the only successful standing airline amongst the regional airlines who started operations around the same time as us. This has led to an upsurge in traffic and we are looking at connecting these points with incremental flight as well as with more cities in our fast-growing network.”

"The past 12 months have been an eventful and busy year for Trujet and its 700 odd employees as it set up its second base at Ahmedabad, and now with a 5 aircraft fleet, has spread its network to 20 cities. We are looking to have our third base in the country at Guwahati," KG Vishwanath, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Trujet said.

"The network and financial growth of the airline are being achieved with long term strategic network selection, financial discipline and creating a conducive environment for people to excel," Vishwanath added.

Trujet is backed by its parent infrastructure major Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited.

The airliner, which had closed the financial year 2017-18 with revenues of Rs 165 crore and a loss of Rs 84 crore, expects to close on a profitable note during the second half of 2018-19.

Managing a load factor of 70-80 per cent, it carried 8.4 lakh passengers last year and expects this to double with a fleet of 100 aircraft by next year.

The airliner is engaged in talks with some international carriers to provide linkages into Tier II, III and IV locations where it connects.

Trujet plans to grow consistently as a successful regional airline that serves as an enabler for the socio-economic uplift of emerging India.

The company has ambitions to go public in the next two-three years as it consolidates its presence, Pradeep said.

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