New Delhi: In what the Modi government said will be the fourth airline to hit the Indian skies ever since it came to power last May, the Air Operators’ Permit was granted on Tuesday by aviation regulator DGCA to Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways Pvt Ltd. Ram Charan an actor himself and son of Congress leader and Telugu actor Chiranjeevi is one of the promoters.
The airline which will operate under the brandname Trujet is slated to launch flights on July 12 and the promoters are expected to announce the launch in Hyderabad on July 10 in the presence of their “celebrity” Ram Charan. The airline will be a regional one and will initially operate in the southern region along with one other destination in neighbouring Maharashtra. The three promoters of the airline are Ram Charan, V. Umesh and P.K. Pandey.
Incidentally, Ram Charan played the lead role in the Hindi film Zanjeer that was released two years ago. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju himself announced the grant of AOP to the airline at a briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. The airline will operate flights initially from Hyderabad to destinations such as Tirupati, Rajahmu-ndry, Bengaluru, Chennai and Aurangabad.
It will also operate in due course to Mangalore and Hubli. In the coming months, the airline also plans to start flights to Goa and destinations in Gujarat after applying for permission to operate in the western region.
In the coming weeks, the airline will operate flights for the convenience of pilgrims who wish to take a dip in the holy Godavari river as part of the Godavari Pushkarams pilgrimage. Airline functionaries said it has two aircraft and will soon acquire a third. It will add another two aircraft by early next year, taking the total number to five. The airline will operate small ATR aircraft which will be 70-seaters. The promoters say that about $20 million have been invested so far in the airline.
In a statement, the airline said the Turbo Megha Airways Pvt Ltd was established in March, 2013, while the initial NoC was obtained in July, 2014. The import permission for the first two aircraft was obta-ined from the government in December last year, the airline said, with sources adding that the first two leased aircraft were obta-ined from Ireland. The airline has promised to offer competitive and attractive fares for passengers. The previous three airlines to have launched during the tenure of the Modi Government so far have been AirAsia India, Vistara and Air Pegasus.
