In the Cockpit

Stargazing in southern skies

Dreamer, entrepreneur, pilot, stargazer - all paradoxically define M Thiagarajan, MD of Paramount Airways. He shares his fascination for the skies and the aircraft that took him close to the stars with Sangeetha Neeraja.

There was a bustle at the Trident Hilton Chennai with cabin crew and men in uniforms shuffling to get in line. This gathered momentum after a while and the congregation thus formed resembled something of an assembly. On enquiring I was told that the Paramount Airways’ chief was there to address the fleet during the Business Lounge Enclave.

Just then the door opened and in walked an unassuming man in his early thirties - one who had envisioned and spearheaded a new movement in the skies of south India. Meet M Thiagarajan, scion of the reputed Madurai-based business family, the Thiagaraja group of mills and academic institutions. The equanimity is evident in the way he carries himself.

A business management graduate, Thiagarajan distinguished himself with a brilliant academic career with many State and University ranks to his credit. He entered the family business of textiles as a third-generation entrepreneur and established his own textile mill, Paramount Mills which received a national award for the highest export of cotton products from the Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council of India (TEXPROCIL).

Seed of an idea

The star-spangled sky fascinated young Thiagarajan. "Whenever I looked at the moon, I'd wish that I was able to reach the stars one day, perhaps even the moon," he says. An avid stargazer even today, he continued to feed his passion and thus began his rendezvous with the open skies.

He reminiscences about the time when he had walked into the Frankfurt flight simulator center with a pilot friend as a young man. "He left me for a while to attend to some work. Curiosity got the better of me and I started fidgeting with the switches and the keys and created enough chaos to bring the flight instructor running," he says, mischief glinting in his eye. Apparently, the instructor took him for a pilot and started warranting punishment.

"The simulator I was playing with was a 747 Jumbo Jet. People generally start off with smaller aircraft and then graduate to more sophisticated ones. But I started the other way round. It was a big day in my life. After that, I started taking the pilot in me seriously," he reveals. He later joined a flying school near London. "When the instructor at the school asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him that I flew only 747s," chuckles Thiagarajan.

A dream is born

Thus was born Paramount Airways in the October of 2005 in Coimbatore. Starting its first flight on the Chennai-Coimbatore route, it has now moved on to include other southern cites like Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi,Hyderabad,Visakhapatnam, Madurai and Thiruvanathapuram, thereby consolidating its presence in the south before venturing out.

The airline employs new generation Embraer 170/175 aircraft (Brazilian make) because it aims to occupy the slot between the low-cost airlines that use ATRs for short distances and the bigger 737s and A320s that are used for longer distances. "The Embraer is a jet with the comfort of an A320 or 737; it can be compared with any mainstream aircraft of today," Thiagarajan informs, adding that Paramount and the president of India fly the same aircraft.

Paramount's plan is to fly routes that are not serviced by the existing airlines, and the aim is to fly 30 flights a day over the next year. This will position the carrier as a premium service but low cost airline. Embraer would set up a warehousing facility in India and provide engineering support for two years and initial pilot support.

Sea, sun and sand

A man of principles, Thiagarajan is a vegetarian, a non-smoker and a teetotaler - all by choice. He looks up to his late grandfather Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar as an idol and is inspired by the way he lived life - simple with high ideals encapsulated in charity. "I want to follow his footsteps so that even as I gaze at the stars, my feet never leave the ground," he says.

So what does this young managing director of an airline do to unwind? He gets high! "On a busy day when I want to clear my head, I just hop into my Cessna, fly for a while and enjoy an aerial view of Madurai. Then I am ready for work. Nothing relaxes me more than flying; it lifts my spirits," exclaims Thiagarajan.

A self-confessed techno junkie, he loves to go shopping in Singapore with his family. But he feels most at home at sea - on sand and under the sun. He prefers to spend long holidays with his family in the Mediterranean, where they go yachting. "We go island hopping and bask in the sun," he adds. Another destination that comes under the favoured category is Maldives - "an absolute beauty".

Things only get more exotic. He has stayed in a luxury submarine, with all the exclusivity of a five-star hotel. "We had the opportunity to see the ancient ruins under the sea along the South American coast," he adds. But the activity that he enjoys most is paragliding, which he once did in Rio. And why not, as he interjects, "I love heights." And we believe him.