Bangalore: Just when the airline sector is staring at runaway operational expenses worsened by a weak rupee, a little-known business group from the Andhra Pradesh town of Vijayawada has entered the money-guzzling business.
Its regional airline - Air Costa, first to be set up under the government of India's regional airline policy in South India - takes to air with two Embraer jets on Monday.
The airline will be headquartered at Vijayawada, and have Chennai as its maintenance centre.
The airline has taken delivery of two E-170 jets and, will add two more E-190 jets in November.
"We are adopting an operational strategy wherein we would be focussing mostly on under-served and lesser-competitive routes," Air Costa Chairman Lingamaneni Ramesh said ahead of the launch.
The start-up will operate services to Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad and later to Visakhapatnam, Goa, Madurai, Thriuvananthapuram and Mysore.
The privately-held Lingamaneni group, founded in 1983 by the first generation entrepreneur L.P. Bhaskar Rao, has tasted success in real estate and construction business. The group has completed many real estate projects in Vijayawada, and is currently building a satellite township project in an area of 32 million square feet with an investment of close to a billion dollars, according to media reports.
14/10/13 K.R. Balasubramanyam/Business Today
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Its regional airline - Air Costa, first to be set up under the government of India's regional airline policy in South India - takes to air with two Embraer jets on Monday.
The airline will be headquartered at Vijayawada, and have Chennai as its maintenance centre.
The airline has taken delivery of two E-170 jets and, will add two more E-190 jets in November.
"We are adopting an operational strategy wherein we would be focussing mostly on under-served and lesser-competitive routes," Air Costa Chairman Lingamaneni Ramesh said ahead of the launch.
The start-up will operate services to Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad and later to Visakhapatnam, Goa, Madurai, Thriuvananthapuram and Mysore.
The privately-held Lingamaneni group, founded in 1983 by the first generation entrepreneur L.P. Bhaskar Rao, has tasted success in real estate and construction business. The group has completed many real estate projects in Vijayawada, and is currently building a satellite township project in an area of 32 million square feet with an investment of close to a billion dollars, according to media reports.
14/10/13 K.R. Balasubramanyam/Business Today
