TBM Staff - Mumbai Air Kerala, a new airline conceived by expatriates and businessmen via Zettfly Aviation, is set to take off next year, having received the No-objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Afi Ahmed, Chairman, Air Kerala, “The first step is the NOC, it’s one of the biggest tasks and that task is now covered,” he said.
The next steps will be to focus on the technical aspects, flights, contracts for the engineering companies, with all of that expected to be fulfilled in “around six to eight months”.
Being set up as an “ultra low-cost airline”, Air Kerala plans to start out with three ATR 72-600 aircraft and grow its fleet to 20 for international expansion by 2026.
The company is exploring the possibility of leasing the aircraft or buying the planes.
The company will require an estimated INR 60 to 100 crore Indian in funding initially, with the amount rising to INR 250 crore to INR 300 crore for growth when it expands its route network to international destinations.
The idea of Air Kerala was first proposed by the Kerala state government in 2005 and the airline was registered as a fully owned subsidiary of Cochin International Airport in 2006, reports The National.
Although it was announced with much fanfare and was touted as one of the most popular and ambitious projects to support Keralites living abroad, the project was shelved several times by successive governments.
Ahmed, founder of Dubai-based Smart Travels, last year bought the domain name airkerala.com for Dh1 million and then decided to revive plans for the airline.
Initially, Air Kerala plans to serve cities within the state of Kerala as well as across India that are not currently well-connected. The airline’s biggest selling point will be its ultra-low-cost model, Ahmed said.
Another unique selling point will be “the timing” because “we will make sure that we will be on time”, he added.
The company is open to a public-private partnership with the Kerala state government, in case they are keen to tie up, Ahmed said.
It is also open to teaming up with expatriates, as well as external funding.
“If there is somebody who wants to join with us because we are expanding … then I can [achieve] the plan a little bit faster,” he said.
In terms of international expansion, the company is confident the huge number of expatriates from Kerala will support its growth.
Air Kerala is not keen on focusing on only one specific city within the UAE, Ahmed said.
“If we are getting an opportunity from Fujairah also, we will do it … if you look at who is leading the market, it’s [driven by] price … that’s the reason we will make sure that our costs are ultra-low.”
However, final decisions on pricing and destinations will be taken at a much later stage and will depend on how its international expansion strategy shapes up.
For now, the company expects to be in the red for two years after launching operations.
“Third and fourth year [is when] we are going to start to get profits,” he said.
