City-based airline Air Carnival has acquired its first aircraft, an ATR 72-500, from France. The aircraft is expected to land in Chennai on Thursday, setting in motion the launch process. The airline authorities say they aim to start operations within a month, which means there will be another flight between Coimbatore and Chennai.
"Once the aircraft arrives in Chennai, we will start the paper work to re-register the plane, currently under foreign registration, in India," said the company's marketing and facility manager, N Kalyanaraman. "Subsequently, we have to finalise in-flight catering and entertainment which should take another 25 days or so," he added.
"Pilots and cabin crew were in various stages of training and would be ready before the final permissions comes through from the Director General of Civil Aviation. Infrastructure and technical support systems are already in place to support commercial operations," said the airline's chief operating officer, SI Nathan.
The entry of Air Carnival is likely to heat up the competition. At present there are three operators flying seven flights a day from Coimbatore to Chennai. The 70-seater flight will fly to Chennai, Madurai and Bangalore on a daily basis.
"We conducted a market survey and found that there much demand for another flight in the Coimbatore to Chennai sector, the same goes for the Chennai to Bangalore sector," said Kalyanaraman.
"Once the flight lands in Chennai from Coimbatore, it will make a round-trip to Madurai and Bangalore," he said. The airline also plans to acquire its second and third aircraft after three to six months, based on operations and revenue coming in.
"Air Carnival has started work to set up offices inside the terminal building, pilot briefing rooms and engineering and maintenance rooms," said Coimbatore Airport director, G Prakash Reddy.
Industrialists welcome the additional flight services. "They should consider shuttle flights offering fixed price open tickets even if slightly more expensive, for frequent travellers," said D Nandhakumar from the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The airline plans to price its tickets parallel to low-cost airlines, but plans to experiment with the in-flight facilities. "We are working out various options like ways to serve hot fresh on board instead of the currently packaged food served on short flight segments," said the manager. "We are also mulling ways to make the food served on-board a part of the ticket package or free of cost," he said. "A passenger flying from Coimbatore to Madurai and Bangalore on our flight will have to pay for two sectors separately, but that may change after a few months."
"Once the aircraft arrives in Chennai, we will start the paper work to re-register the plane, currently under foreign registration, in India," said the company's marketing and facility manager, N Kalyanaraman. "Subsequently, we have to finalise in-flight catering and entertainment which should take another 25 days or so," he added.
"Pilots and cabin crew were in various stages of training and would be ready before the final permissions comes through from the Director General of Civil Aviation. Infrastructure and technical support systems are already in place to support commercial operations," said the airline's chief operating officer, SI Nathan.
The entry of Air Carnival is likely to heat up the competition. At present there are three operators flying seven flights a day from Coimbatore to Chennai. The 70-seater flight will fly to Chennai, Madurai and Bangalore on a daily basis.
"We conducted a market survey and found that there much demand for another flight in the Coimbatore to Chennai sector, the same goes for the Chennai to Bangalore sector," said Kalyanaraman.
"Once the flight lands in Chennai from Coimbatore, it will make a round-trip to Madurai and Bangalore," he said. The airline also plans to acquire its second and third aircraft after three to six months, based on operations and revenue coming in.
"Air Carnival has started work to set up offices inside the terminal building, pilot briefing rooms and engineering and maintenance rooms," said Coimbatore Airport director, G Prakash Reddy.
Industrialists welcome the additional flight services. "They should consider shuttle flights offering fixed price open tickets even if slightly more expensive, for frequent travellers," said D Nandhakumar from the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The airline plans to price its tickets parallel to low-cost airlines, but plans to experiment with the in-flight facilities. "We are working out various options like ways to serve hot fresh on board instead of the currently packaged food served on short flight segments," said the manager. "We are also mulling ways to make the food served on-board a part of the ticket package or free of cost," he said. "A passenger flying from Coimbatore to Madurai and Bangalore on our flight will have to pay for two sectors separately, but that may change after a few months."