Announcing the acquisition of the fifth Embraer aircraft, Thiagarajan said that with the arrival of the new aircraft, the Airways would be operating to a total of 48 flights per day carrying about 3,500 passengers.
Asked how the company would fund the acquisition of new aircraft, he said 70 per cent would be through own funding and equity and balance through borrowings from International funding organisations. Around $500 million would be needed for purchasing the aircraft, he said.
He said the Airways would shortly launch flights covering Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupati. It would also operate one more flight on the Chennai-Hyderabad sector, taking the total number of flights to four every day.
From November 8, it would operate services on the Bangalore-Chennai sector. It would start a flight on Coimbatore-Hyderabad sector and two flights on the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram sector from November 18.
Thiagarajan said the carrier was also planning to operate flights from Tiruchirapalli, Tuticorin and Salem.
He said the Airports Authority of India had given the Airways 10,000 sq ft space for a hangar, which would soon come up at the Chennai airport.
