Read in the paper that they are going to commence on Chandigarh-Delhi-Bombay with CRJ 200s within the next 10 days.

They are expecting 10 737NGs (800/900) soon with a "hire lease purchase model" for 10 years.

Other destinations mentioned in the report include Jaipur, Jammu, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

-- Edited by ArtofZen at 01:26, 2006-11-01

I thought they were getting some RJ-600's from Lufthansa Regional. That's what they said earlier at least.

If they get the NGs its good news for them. Most of the NGs are brand new which means the maintenance (assuming they've had good homes) would be near nil.

Indus Air to take off from December 14

P R Sanjai / Mumbai December 08, 2006

India will have its tenth domestic passenger airline operating feeder routes from December 14.

After initial delay owing to pilot shortage and government clearances, Indus Air is all set to fly from next week with smaller Bombardier CRJ jets.

In its first phase of operations, Indus Air will have two aircraft — Bombardier CRJ 200 (50 seater) and CRJ 900 (90 seater). Operating out of New Delhi, Indus will be a full-service airline, serving foods and other facilities during travel.

Indus Air is promoted by chairman and managing director of Mohan Meakins with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore. Other board members of the airline are Krishnan Gopal Beri of Beri and Beri Cold Storage and General Mills, NRI Lakhanpaul and Baldev Seth.

Sources said the airline was planning to start by December 7, connecting New Delhi and Mumbai to Chandigarh.

“At present, the airline has received necessary clearances from government including Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Now there is no obstacle before us to start commercial operations,” a senior airline executive said.

They pointed out that Indus Air has tied up with another scheduled airline Air Sahara for deploying their CRJ pilots.

“DGCA has cleared CRJ pilots of Sahara to fly Indus Air flights. The company will be having a fleet of five CRJ for feeder operations,” they added.

In its second phase, Indus Air is exploring the options for bigger jets and it is in talks with US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company. “The airline is looking at acquiring 10 Boeing B737-800 aircraft to serve more routes,” sources said.

With CRJ jets, Indus Air has plans to connect Delhi-Jodhpur, Delhi-Goa and Mumbai-Udaipur.

Link Here

Another speculative date.

I cant see how these wannabe carriers will ever succeed ,entering so late in the fray.

Unless the company is loaded with cash and probably is using an opportunity to pick up an ailing carrier and use it  to expand.

I think India is NOT THAT BIG a country that 10 carriers can all thrive on national routes.

Nor does it have a strong regional market (except perhaps in South)-even there, KF,DN are fighting already!

I think within a year or 2, the main markets of BOM-DEL-BLR-MAA-HYD will saturate.

Why dont carriers start up in cities like AMD or NAG (where there is adequate infrastructure) and develop the regional markets to connect to metros ?

 

Aseem wrote:

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the_380 wrote:

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10 B737-800s is not a joke and if Indus Air is thinking of purchasing them then their budget should be hard indeed.

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just wondering, why not 739s if you want to use it as regional bus.  Range is not what Indus Air is looking for and they can use 739s in high capacity configuration to generate higher revenue per seat. Or is it that most carriers try to play safe between -7 and -9, and opt for -8?
rgds
VT-ASJ

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Load factor.
As you have mentioned abt carriers playing safe between -7 and -9. Besides economics of the 738 are also better... thats what i heard