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Journalism of Courage
Come April, and yet one more low-cost carrier will join the domestic airspace. Feeder airline Jagson Airlines on Thursday announced its plans to expand its services into a low-cost carrier with an initial investment of Rs 250 crore and a fleet of 19 aircraft.
To fund its aircraft acquisition plan, the company plans to raise Rs 120 crore through foreign private equity while the rest will be pumped by the promoters itself. The company plans to raise the funds soon after Ernst & Young completes the airline’s valuation.
With the former Air Sahara CEO Uttam Kumaar Bose as its president and CEO, Jagson Airline would operate to nine cities by this year-end with the first flight in the Delhi-Bangalore sector in April or May.
“Jagson Airlines will be a low cost carrier, but not a no-frills one. We will keep the costs low and pass on the benefits to the passenger and our prices will be competitive,” Bose said.
According to Bose, Jagson has increased its paid up capital to Rs 50 crore as against the civil aviation requirements of Rs 30 crore for a scheduled operator. For the initial operations, 6 Airbus planes would be taken on dry lease and flights launched to cover Delhi, Patna, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jaipur, Dibrugarh and Goa. In the second phase, services would be expanded to Lucknow, Cochin and Hyderabad. The 19 aircraft to be acquired by Jagson would all be A-321-200s in a two economy class configuration.
