Air Taxi, India's newest airline, gets permit to start operations

Co-Founders Varun Suhag and Poonam Gaur

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The Indian aviation industry may get a new airline, possibly before the end of the year, with Air Taxi getting the Scheduled Commuter Airline Permit from the regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation).

"We got our permit on December 14. We will be applying for slots now," Varun Suhag, Air Taxi's co-founder told Moneycontrol. The airline's operations will be based in Chandigarh. "We have a total of 26 routes in RCS," Suhag said, adding that the airline plans to start operations in December.

The RCS, or the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme popularly known as UDAN, gives incentive to airlines to start services in tier 2 and 3 cities. One of the incentives is the subsidy the government gives, per seat, to the carriers.

Air Taxi will have a fleet of Tecnam P2006T aircraft, a twin-engine four-seat plane manufactured by Italian firm Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam.

Suhag, who started his career as a pilot in Air Deccan, co-founded the company in 2014, along with Poonam Gaur, who was last a pilot with IndiGo. Air Taxi will operate flights to Hissar, Dharamshala and Amritsar. Earlier, it had won rights to operate on the Shimla-Kulu route, too.

Data from the Airports Authority of India showed that by November, 299 of the UDAN routes were operational. Air Taxi was awarded routes in the fourth phase of the scheme. It will probably be the first to start services on routes awarded in this round.

The same month, Star Air, a Bengaluru-based regional airline, started off services from Kalaburagi in Karnataka to Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad. This route was awarded in the third phase.

The aircraft

Giving details on the Tecnam aircraft in an earlier interaction with Moneycontrol, Suhag had said these aircraft are cheaper to maintain than a turboprop.