After a long wait, the dream of an airline from Kerala has come true. CNBC18 reported that Kerala-based Al Hind Group’s Al Hind Air has received an operating license (NOC) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). With an initial investment of Rs 200-500 crore, Al Hind will initially operate domestic services. ATR aircraft will be used for this purpose. Initially Kochi-Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai services are targeted. Later, the services will be extended to pan India level and international level in a phased manner. Al Hind plans to use Airbus A320 aircraft for international services. For this, the number of aircraft will be increased to 20 within two years. The Av Hind Group is reportedly in talks with Airbus and Boeing for narrow-body aircraft. These will be aircraft with 100-240 seats.
Expatriates and Haj pilgrims will benefit
Currently, Al Hind is a group that provides air ticketing, tour operating, chartered flights, hotel room booking and visa services. The company has a wide reach in the field of air ticket booking and a good user base including Hajj pilgrims. Al Hind is a company with a turnover of Rs 20,000 crore. About Rs 600 crore in revenue is generated through air ticket booking services every month. In addition to the Gulf, Al Hind Group is targeting international services to East Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
Al Hind Group is also moving forward with the steps to start the airline even after a month has passed since the Air Kerala airline, led by expatriate entrepreneurs, received the operating license from the Union Ministry of Aviation. Air Kerala will initially operate domestic service with two aircraft in the first quarter of next year. After acquiring 20 aircraft, the service will start including to the Gulf.
The long-standing demand of the expatriates for Kerala to have its own airline is now coming closer to reality. This demand arose from the expatriates in the context of private airlines increasing the ticket prices sharply during holidays and so on.
Note: Design of aeroplane ai genereated. Original design may vary