Air Sahara, which launched its first aviation hub in the country in Hyderabad, now intends to connect Hub Hyderabad to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
While the airline is charting out its international plans, worries still remain on whether permission will be granted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the number of flights it will be allowed to international destinations.
For example, Air Sahara had applied for permission to fly daily to London, but was allowed to operate only two flights a week to London as compared to seven flights for Jet Airways.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of Hub Hyderabad, Rono Joy Dutta, president and chief executive officer of Air Sahara, said, "We have asked permission for 21 flights a week to Singapore, 14 to Bangkok and seven each to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. With government approvals, we hope to start these operations by this summer in the second phase."
In the second phase, Air Sahara intends to operate 140 flights a week from Hyderabad to avail of the tax concessions on ATF (aviation turbine fuel).
The Andhra Pradesh government has reduced the tax on ATF to five per cent from the present 30 per cent for airlines operating 140 flights and above.
For airlines operating between 100 and 139 flights, it has been reduced to 15 per cent.
Based on government approvals, Air Sahara is looking at operating seven flights each from Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai to Singapore, seven each from Kolkata and Delhi to Bangkok, seven from Delhi to Hong Kong and seven from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur.
"We, however, are not happy with the government's decision, allowing Jet Airways to operate seven flights a week to London compared to two permitted to us," Dutta said.
"If the government continues permitting flights in the ratio of 3:1 to Jet Airways and us, the former will develop a monopoly and it will be difficult for us to compete," he added.
The allocation for London has been done on the basis of capacity deployed in the domestic sector. Air Sahara, however, believes that an airline's strength in a geographical region should be taken into account for frequency allocation.
"Jet Airways may be strong in Gujarat, but with the opening of Hub Hyderabad we will be strong in the south. We are strong in Delhi as well," Dutta said.
"The government should take these factors into consideration before determining the air scheme," he added.
Through Air Sahara, Hyderabad is now connected to 14 domestic cities like Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore, Mumbai, Goa and Lucknow. The airline also offers daily flights between Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
The other cities connected to Visakhapatnam are Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Lucknow.
Air Sahara's total investment in Hyderabad for the development of the hub is $20 million over a five-year period, inclusive of the new aircrafts that it is leasing and the academy that it intends to start.
"At present, we have 14 Boeing aircraft and four helicopters. By this summer, we will be adding five Boeing and three A310 aircraft to the existing fleet," Dutta said.
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