US carrier Sapphire Airways plans to launch its services to India from next year at competitive fares, which will be lower than those charged for direct flights.
The proposed carrier, which is yet to get its approvals from the US Federal Aviation Authority, plans to start its services from San Fransisco to Bangalore via Munich from June 2008, the company's Chairman and Founder Rahul S Puranik told PTI in Mumbai.
He said the plans also included to launch a second flight on the Chicago-London-Mumbai sector at a later stage.
Observing that there was a great amount of traffic between the US and India, Puranik, a former pilot of American carrier Delta Airways, said "we will have competitive fares, which will even be lower than those being charged for the direct flights now".
Regarding his $130 million airline company, he said while 35 million was being put in by the promoters, 40 million would be sought from private enterprise and a debt of 45 million would be raised. In the first phase, the company would acquire long-haul aircraft from the Airbus Industrie.
Puranik also projected a revenue of $40 million in the first year of its operations, during which it would aim at cornering 25 per cent of the traffic on the Indo-US sector.