29.5.14

GoAir in expansion mode

Private low-cost airline GoAir plans to concentrate on Pune to make available greater connectivity and higher standards of service.
The airline is expecting to get a night parking spot at the Pune airport and such a facility will enable it to offer more early morning flight options, chief executive officer Giorgio De Roni told reporters. About 70 per cent of GoAir’s seat capacity serves to connect metros and non-metros and the airline will stick to this pattern, De Roni said.
De Roni said the airline is on a major capacity expansion route and has ordered 72 new A 320 aircraft which will join its fleet by the year 2020. “These will be aircraft built on new, more fuel efficient technology and will help the airline widen its reach and reduce costs,” he said. Global aviation business studies have indicated that India will be the third biggest civil aviation market and the airline is bracing up to partake of the opportunity, he added.
Pune will figure in a major way in the airline’s expansion plans as there is a marked demand for flights connecting Pune and metros, he said, adding that the flights from Pune to Kolkata (via Nagpur) and Bangalore which GoAir recently started have been receiving strong response from air travelers from Pune.
“About 10 per cent of the airline’s seat capacity and 15 per cent of its revenue will come from business generating in Pune,” he said.
He said GoAir grew more than 20 per cent in 2013-14 as against the Indian aviation business which grew about 6 per cent. The airline currently has 19 aircraft and is expecting delivery of one more later this year, he added.

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