The Indian skies may soon see a new airline taking off. Fly91 will be promoted by aviation veteran Manoj Chacko and cofounded by Harsha Raghavan, former India head of Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings.
Chacko was the executive vice-president of Kingfisher Airlines and chief operating officer and CEO of business travel, SOTC. Harsha founded Fairbridge Capital, a completely owned investment company of Fairfax Financial Holdings, and served as its first managing director and former CEO.
Just UDO, the owner of Fly91 (91 for India’s country code), has been set up by Chacko, along with a co-founding team, according to a report by media. According to the article, Raghavan will anchor Fly91's initial investment of Rs 200 crore by co-founding the airline through his investment company Convergent Finance.
Last Monday, the promoter business, Just UDO, submitted an application to the civil aviation ministry for the initial no-objection certificate (NOC). The airline would be based in Goa.
ATR 72-600 turboprop planes with a capacity for 70 passengers will be flown by Fly91. The corporation has advanced conversations with leasing companies for aircraft. The airline aims to start operations in September with two aircraft, scale it up to six in the first year of operations and 32 planes in five years, the report added.