Mohan Meakin to launch airline

Kapil Mohan of Mohan Meakin announce the launch of low-cost Indus Airways.

The airline is being launched in association with three other businessmen "" Krishna Gopal Beri of Beri & Beri Cold Storage and General Mills, P Lakhanpall, a London-based Indian and Baldev Seth, a garment exporter.

The operations of the new airline will be managed by former senior pilots of a public sector carrier.

Indus Airways, which has received the required government approvals, is expected to commence services in April. The carrier is expected to inter-connect northern Indian cities and later operate on the trunk routes with leased aircraft.

"The company has already got all the necessary clearances and is now awaiting the final nod of the civil aviation ministry. We hope to launch our services from April with five leased 50-seater Embraer RJ-145 aircraft," Mohan said at a press conference here.

He said Indus Airways will be a low-cost but all-frills carrier. Mohan also said the airline will have Chandigarh and Delhi as its main centres of operation, and inter-connect Jammu, Amritsar, Shimla and some other major northern cities.

At a later stage, the airline would start operations to Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.