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Air One To Commence Services In August
Vyas Sivanand - Bangalore
The Air One Feeder Airline Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based low
cost airline will be joining the bandwagon of economy flights starting this
August. The airline initially plans to operate two Embraer's 50-seater regional
jet aircraft ERJ-145, leased from Swiss International Airlines. Commenting on
the primary difference between themselves and other new carriers like Air Deccan
and Kingfisher Airlines, Dr J W Lobo, MD, Air One explained, "We do not
want to be compared with other low frill aircraft, but compare ourselves with
full service carriers. Embraer's quality is unlike that of an ATR as it can
gain much more altitude thus being able to provide a more comfortable journey
due to comparatively less turbulence. We would also be providing light complimentary
food and beverages."
Air One is acquiring each of its aircraft on a five-year dry lease at US$ 1,35,000
per month with an investment of Rs 20 crore from the investors and Rs 12 crore
from financial institutions. "We are focussing on long haul flights and
not trunk routes. The initial destinations we plan to service are Bhubaneswar,
Trivandrum, Pune, Ahmedabad and maybe even Kolkata from Bangalore," added
Lobo. The other flying options that the airline is looking at are Bangalore-Trivandrum,
Delhi-Trivandrum, Delhi-Bhubaneswar, etc. "However, the actual routes will
be firmed up 45 days prior to the launch date," said Lobo.
Air One has currently got an allocation of one parking slot in Bangalore and
will be getting a slot in Mangalore later, this year. The company is confident
of getting a slot in Trivandrum and Pune too. "In Bangalore, the airport
is managed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), because of which, we could
easily manage a slot. But at other airports, we have to get the requisite permissions
from AAI. We are confident of getting the slots soon in Trivandrum," said
Lobo. The company is currently not looking at Delhi and Mumbai for parking slots.
While the lease rentals and operational cost of an Embraer is much higher than
an ATR, Air One proposes to have a fare that is less than 20-30 per cent in
comparison to full service airlines. "Our costs are kept low by two aspects;
high passenger load factor and secondly, flying long hauls. The maximum fuel
consumption happens during take-off and landing, so irrespective of the distance
travelled, the fuel consumption is almost the same," said Lobo.
Air One is planning to have about 25 aircraft in five years. "We will be
looking at cross border funding and people are in negotiations with us,"
explained Lobo. Currently, Air One has 12 investors who are NRIs and businessmen
from Bangalore and Mangalore.
On the distribution front, Air One is largely looking at the Internet for ticket
bookings apart from its offices. The company also plans to provide ticket access
to some travel agents, subject to commercial conditions.
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