Upcoming Airlines

Deccan Shuttle will start 12 flights a day between the nine cities using five 12-seater Grand Caravans. Gopinaths latest venture coincides with a series of launches of small and regional airlines in India. Air Mantra,a unit of financial services conglomerate Religare Group,launched daily flights connecting Amritsar and Chandigarh in July.Starting out with two Beechcraft 1900Ds,a 17-seater aircraft,it is the first airline to offer direct flights between the two cities.Sandeep Bhatt,CEO,Air Mantra,says the aim is to become a regional airline. Air Pegasus,promoted by Shyson Thomas of Decor Aviation,an airport ground handling agency,is looking to become south Indias first regional airline in October.Pegasus will connect 13 airports in the south. Spirit Air,which connects industrial towns such as Jamshedpur and Ranchi from Kolkata,is expanding to places such as Angul in Orissa,where Jindal Steel and Power is building a 50,000-crore steel plant.Later this year,it will target tourist destinations such as Gaya and Kushnagar later this year. RAHI Aviation Inspired Realities (RAir),an offshoot of RAHI Aviation Holdings,a Bangalorebased aviation infrastructure and allied air services company,will begin to fly as a nonscheduled operator (one that does not follow a timetable) and a regional service operator early next year.The company is in advanced discussions with aircraft maker Cessna for its five Air Taxi turbo-props,a 12-seater Grand Caravan and a 39-seater ATR-42.RAir has secured $9 million from two anchor investors and is in talks to wrap up a full investment of $23 million by this Christmas,according to founder chairman Umesh Kumar Baveja. Non-resident Indians in the Gulf are about to resurrect plans to launch a carrier called Air Kerala that will connect the state and the Middle East.Waiting in the wings are Karina Airlines,Volk Air,Air Freedom and Akashganga Airlines,among others. The Case for Small Carriers Indian aviation is again having a moment after about four years of skulking in the corners of a slowdown.Importantly,the action this time has shifted to small carriers,which could answer Indias poor air connectivity problems because major Indian airlines can only be expected to pare services on many routes,given their troubles with fuel prices and huge debts.For instance,Kingfisher,which had made Mysore its own in its prime,has since cut the city from its schedule as it has with Agra,Pantnagar,Kohlapur,among other routes,due to its financial struggles.

Yet,the action comes at a time when few are expected to touch the sector with a barge pole.Indias biggest airline by market share,Jet Airways,and low fare rival SpiceJet posted profits in the June quarter,but these are still early days to suggest that the sector has emerged from the shadow of the troubles sown by soaring fuel prices and a weakening rupee.Even for a sector that has always been inherently risky,the past two years have stood out as an absolute nightmare.Indian carriers lost a combined $2 billion last year.Kingfisher,which once embodied aviations glitz and glamour,is gasping for breath and fighting for survival. Gopinaths previous ventures themselves a low fare carrier called Air Deccan that was sold to Kingfisher and air cargo service Deccan 360 were modest successes. Even Indias past experiments with regional airlines are far from encouraging.A comprehensive policy packed with incentives to promote regional airlines was unveiled in 2007.Expectedly,a number of names such as Trans India Aviation,Star Aviation,Air Dravida and Avicore appeared on the scene with big plans,looking to benefit from cheaper jet fuel and zero landing and navigation charges.Gurgaon-based MDLR Airlines,whose founder Gopal Kanda has been arrested for allegedly abetting.

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