Indigo Airlines to take off next year

Private low-cost carrier Indigo Airlines is planning to launch its operation by February next year by taking aircraft on lease.

"The delivery of the aircraft, we have ordered, will start by July 2006 and we will expedite the launch to February by taking a few aircraft on short-term lease," Indigo Airlines promoter Rahul Bhatia said.

The company has ordered 100 aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus, delivery of which would be made between 2006-2016.

Bhatia said that the promoter's equity in the airline would initially be $ 80 million, which would go up to $ 250 million by 2008.

The total cost of the 100 aircraft is estimated to be about $ 6 billion, of which 15 per cent would be met by the promoter's equity, the remaining amount would be brought in by the financial institutions.

Bhatia , however, refused to name the financial institutions which will provide the remaining funds. The airline, which will be branded as "Indigo", will operate not just on the trunk routes, but also on other routes.

"There are 80 cities with over one million people and we will look at those cities and not focus on the major routes only," Bhatia added.

The airline is also looking at operating on the Delhi-Srinagar route. The fares will be competitive with those of other low-cost carriers like Deccan Air. The fares will be 40 per cent lower than those of full service carriers and will be competitive with other no-frill airlines, Bhatia said.

SpiceJet on new routes: With induction of two more Boeing 737-800 aircraft into its fleet, budget airline SpiceJet will offer new connections on the Delhi-Chennai route via Hyderabad, starting December 4, reports Our Corporate Bureau.

The addition of these two cities now takes SpiceJet's operations to 11 cities across India and the number of daily flights to 36.

SpiceJet has introduced special fares on these late night flights. The special fares are Rs 1,599 for Delhi-Hyderabad, Rs 999 for Hyderabad-Chennai and Rs 1,999 for Delhi-Chennai routes.

The company will start operations with six aircraft in 2006 and add nine more to its fleet by 2007 and another eight in 2008. After that, the company would add one aircraft every five weeks.