AI plans low cost carrier for Gulf

The blueprint for creating a new low cost carrier, which was presented at Air India’s board meeting on April 21, proposes a fleet of 14 Boeing 737 800s with six to be inducted in the first phase for starting operations by April 2005.

The induction of the 14 planes will be done over a year in three phases and by summer 2006, the airline should be up on its feet and fit to operate 127 services a week. However, with six aircraft inducted in the first phase, the blueprint states that the carrier will be able to mount 63 flights a week by next summer.

The low cost carrier will be a subsidiary of AI under the Air India Charters Ltd. but will function as a full-fledged airlines with its own chief executive officer and support staff. The plan advocates a Rs 10 crore equity base with the remaining Rs 85 crores to be raised through loans to meet the start-up costs.

Cutting down on the frills to make up for the cheap fares, it proposes to scale-down on-board service with packed snack boxes on short haul and pre-set meal on medium-haul flights. An economy seat configuration has been suggested with lesser toilets to accommodate 181 passengers. Cabin crew will be halved to five to save on costs.

The carrier, according to the plan, will take over Air India’s existing operations to the Gulf and West Asia and South East Asia except Saudi Arabia where the bilateral agreement is apparently restrictive.

Kerala would receive a major boost in case this airline takes off. In fact, Kochi is proposed to be the commercial and operations base for the airline.

Further, the blueprint envisages running direct services to Dubai separately from Calicut, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram daily in the first phase. It also plans to start daily shuttles on the Cochin-Abu Dhabi-Muscat-Cochin and Delhi-Dubai-Delhi sectors by next summer.

Both Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut will also be connected with Abu Dhabi and Muscat through separate flights. The first phase will also see introduction of daily direct flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to Chennai.

Four aircrafts will be inducted in the next phase (October 2005), increasing the services to 101. This plan envisages connecting Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai with Dubai through direct flights. Delhi will also be linked with a single daily service to Singapore and Jakarta.

The last batch of aircrafts will be introduced by April 2006 enabling bi-weekly services in sectors like Guwahati and Bangkok, Goa and Kuwait, as well as Kochi and Kuwait. Doha, Bahrain, Alain (UAE) and Salalah (Oman) will also be connected with points in Kerala. A final decision on the airline has, however, been put on hold following polls