TruJet of Turbo Megha Airways is on an expansion mode as it adds its third aircraft to its young fleet and seeks to connect new destinations.
The five-month-old regional carrier operating in the southern part of the country expects to add two more aircraft by March 2016, taking its fleet to five and providing it the flexibility to add a number of other destinations, up from seven now it operates.
Vankayalapati Umesh, Managing Director of Turbo Megha Airways, said, “We are a young airline and recently crossed the magical number of flying one lakh passengers in a short span, in spite of some teething troubles and turbulence. Yet it has been a very satisfying journey so far and we look forward to connecting more unserved destinations as early as possible.”
Umesh told BusinessLine that TruJet had to face some initial minor troubles and the acquisition of the third aircraft taken on lease has been behind schedule by about two months. The engine of one of the aircraft had to be changed. But now the company is on track to have five aircraft before March. “This will enable TruJet to connect to the Western region — Pune and Mumbai and later to the North,” he explained.
"One of the challenges for a new airliner is to ensure that right destination is chosen to offer services. Even if one has two good routes and the third one is not doing well, its finances could be hit. We are also looking at support/subsidy extended by some governments to connect new destinations, like the one for Puducherry and also from Andhra Pradesh,'' he explained.
Referring to the recent increase in user development charges for some of the airports, he said that it has adverse impact on low-cost carriers, especially when they connect destinations which are about four hours of drive like Vijayawada. “That is why we had to reconsider flying there from Hyderabad. However, we expect traffic to improve in future,” he said.
Asked if they are in talks for private equity infusion, Umesh said after the success of the IndiGo IPO, and good business seen in the past few months, there has been interest from investors. “However, we would not consider this until we have a full year balance sheet, which will speak for itself,” he said.