Airliners-India

747-237 · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:38 am Post subject:

"We are taking delivery of one more aircraft this month and with that we plan to launch two new routes within the summer schedule," Choudhary said.

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/air-costa-hopes-to-break-even-by-this-fiscal-24577

bob · Member Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 173 Location: bom

I understand one aircraft is grounded due to engine problem . can some one update tail no and date of grounding and when this aircraft is expected back in service .. I presume they may not have spare engine due to this pro long grounding ..
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basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

Air Costa starts 2nd daily MAA - IXM from Aug 6. With this, MAA - IXM has 9 daily flights.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 6:06 pm Post subject:

Has Air Costa canned BLR-MAA-BLR?
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TKMCE · Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 957

MAA BLR s still there. It operates MAA-BLR-AMD and back.

THere is an additional MAA AMD MAA rotation as well

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:30 am Post subject:

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1896 Location: Bangalore

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

Oh I missed it. Edited now. Currently it is available though. And they might operate MAA - BLR - MAA in that 3 hrs layover in MAA with a E170. Not sure about it though.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:40 pm Post subject:

Costa is always one of the more expensive options on BLR-MAA though. I suspect that, along with them not being a popular brand name has resulted in their demise on this sector.

Air Asia avoided such a state of affairs through effective advertising and a price blast rather early on.
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justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1896 Location: Bangalore

Saw a LB E170 AOG at BLR yday. Wonder how much effect it had on their ops.

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 12:25 pm Post subject:

Their aircraft go tech often, to state it mildly.
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ameya · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 6:37 pm Post subject:

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

ameya · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:19 am Post subject:

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2562

So Air Costa has discontinued operations at MAA. This was supposed to be the maintenance base. They need to stabilize their operations, otherwise they will go down the path of Paramount.

May be they can carve a niche on VGA-VTZ-TIR routes, now that Andhra Pradesh has split into two states, with the three cities in the current Andhra Pradesh state, may be there will be more traffic in these routes.

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

Actually both E170s are based in VGA. They just removed MAA from its rotation. Both E190s are still based in MAA.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:36 am Post subject:

So while contemplating flying either BLR-MAA or MAA-BLR on this carrier over the past couple of months, they've first removed BLR from their rotation, and then brought it back only to remove MAA! Rolling Eyes

Way to go Costa.
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747-237 · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:46 pm Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Air-Costa-to-operate-pan-India-flights-from-next-year/articleshow/44827625.cms

Air Costa to operate pan-India flights from next year

Oct 15, 2014

Air Costa on Wednesday said it plans to go national from the first quarter of the next fiscal with focus on small towns.

"We are looking at operating pan-India flights from the first quarter of the next fiscal (April-June 2015). We already have initiated necessary process in this regard," Lingamaneni said.

Lingamaneni said the carrier will induct four leased aircraft every year to cater to the proposed expansion plans.
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747-237 · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:32 pm Post subject:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-costa-to-start-chennai-jaipur-service-cut-winter-flights/articleshow/44899810.cms

Air Costa to start Chennai-Jaipur service, cut winter flights

21 Oct, 2014

Air Costa today said it will launch a direct daily flight between Chennai and Jaipur from Sunday even as it has reduced capacity by 10 per cent during the winter schedule owing to several reasons.

The Vijayawada-based airline also said it will offer a special Diwali discount of Rs 500 in fares across its flights booked between October 21 and October 25 for travel up to March 28 next year.

Air Costa will launch a daily non-stop flight between Chennai and Jaipur effective October 26 with a starting fare of Rs 4,999, the airline said in a release here.

"These new flights are being started after we received encouraging feedback from our passengers, especially from Chennai and Jaipur. It is our constant endeavour to provide flexibility and choice for our customers," Air Costa Managing Director L V S Rajasekhar said.

Also, the Diwali discount offer will allow passengers to enjoy the festival by planning their journey and holidays in advance with Air Costa, he said.

The private carrier said it will operate 34 flights per day, including the proposed Chennai-Jaipur, during the winter schedule as against 38 services it operated during summers, thereby reducing the total capacity by 10 per cent.

Air Costa has decided to pull out its Hyderabad-Jaipur, Bangalore-Chennai and Hyderabad-Chennai flights from the network during the winters, it said.

"Since flights during the winter months are always prone to disruption due to fog, the total number of flights have been reduced so that we have ample slag time in the aircraft rotation and are able to reduce the consequential delays. We reduced our flights also due to the runway constraints at Jaipur airport."

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747-237 · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:53 pm Post subject:

VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Company (VietJet Air) clinched a strategic cooperation deal with Indian regional airline Air Costa aiming to boost air travel between the two nations.

The signing was timed to coincide with Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s three-day official visit from October 27-29 to India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

The agreements laid the groundwork for Vietjet Air’s plan on expanding its operation in the Indian market.

http://english.vov.vn/Economy/Vietnam-India-boost-aviation-cooperation/283101.vov
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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Air Costa launches Air Costa Cargo
News
5-Jan-2015 11:14 AM
Air Costa, via its official Facebook account, stated (29-Dec-2014) Air Costa has expanded its reach with the launch of Air Costa Cargo which caters to the domestic air cargo vertical by providing efficient air freight transportation across its stations.

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:07 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-costa-to-add-8-aircrafts-in-the-next-2-yrs-to-support-pan-india-foray-115011200755_1.html

Air Costa to add 8 aircrafts in the next 2 yrs to support pan India foray

The Airline also plan to add four Embraer Jets (E190) aircrafts in 2015 and in 2016 each to support its foray into other parts of the country.

"We will soon be able to start pan India operations. Our focus will be tier II and III cities and inter connection services. We are not here to compete with players like Indigo or Jet," said Choudhary, who is in Singapore currently to finalise the deal for three fleets.

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Nimish · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:21 pm Post subject:

^^ Good move for long thin routes, they should minimize regional routes which are much more suited for ATRs.
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747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:16 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-costa-tweaks-routes-to-improve-results-will-add-four-planes-in-2015-115022400846_1.html

Air Costa tweaks routes to improve results, will add four planes in 2015

February 24, 2015

Air Costa is restructuring its network and adding frequencies on existing sectors to shore up its performance.

The airline is tweaking its network, increasing its fleet utilisation and adding frequencies on existing routes. Also going forward the airline will only induct E-190 planes which offers better seat economics than the smaller E-170 planes.

The airline plans will add four E-190 planes in 2015 and plans to connect Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Chandigarh, Indore, Pune from its hubs in South India. It is also said to be exploring services to Delhi.

In the summer schedule Air Costa will double its service between Vijaywada-Bengaluru, and add flights between Vijaywada-Chennai and Hyderabad-Chennai. In winter schedule it dropped certain routes covering 3-4 cities replacing them with direct flights.

"We enjoy a monopoly on three city pairs: Jaipur-Chennai, Tirupati -Vishakhapatnam, and Vijayawada-Vishakhapatnam sectors, and a duopoly on five others. On the other sectors, we enjoy competition from just two other airlines. Our current average utilisation of the E-170 aircraft is 10 hours and the average utilisation of the E-190 aircraft is 14.5 hours each day which is currently the best in the industry," said Vivek Choudhary, chief financial officer, Air Costa.

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747-237 · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:05 am Post subject:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/463330/air-costa-may-fly-mysuru.html

Air Costa may fly to Mysuru

March 04, 2015

In what could be a flicker of hope in putting Mysuru on the aviation map again, a domestic airline has shown interest in flying to the City of Palaces. Andhra Pradesh-based Air Costa has resumed talks with the airport authorities after a gap of one year.

Mysuru Airport director, C Manjunath, told Deccan Herald that Air Costa, the Vijayawada-based airline, had been provided with technical details a month ago and its reply was awaited. The airline was given the details about the runway width and length (it’s 1,740 metres long and 30 metres wide—conducive for operating smaller aircraft). Air Costa was in talks with the airport authorities earlier too when SpiceJet was already operating flights from Mysuru.
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747-237 · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:20 am Post subject:

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/40115-indias-air-costa-to-expand-licence-to-entail-national-ops

India's Air Costa to expand licence to entail national ops

Air Costa (LB, Vijayawada) is planning to expand its operational scope beyond its current regional limitations Chief Financial Officer Vivek Choudhary has disclosed. Speaking to India's Economic Times, Choudhary said his airline had already made the relevant application to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Launched in 2012, Air Costa's operations are restricted to India's Southern Region whose confines includes the metros in and around Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. At present, India has four defined regions in which so-called "Regional Carriers" may operate: North, South, West, East/North-East. Each region coincides with an existing Flight Information Region (FIR) with its airports defined by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

"We are keen on cities like Lucknow, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, and Delhi Int'l, among others. Many new players are focusing on Tier-II cities but our USP (Unique Selling Point) is that we have the first mover's advantage in many of these centres," Choudhary told the Times of India earlier this year

At present, Air Costa serves the southern Indian cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad Int'l, Chennai, Bangalore Int'l, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Tirupati, Vijayawada, and Vishakhapatnam.
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KALINGARAJAN · Member Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Posts: 53

As Air Costa(LB) will be expanding its fleet size and have also applied to DGCA for pan-India license, will they be operating flights to/from DEL? Well, it has been mentioned that they are looking at Delhi in some news/articles.

747-237 · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 3:42 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-costa-expects-pan-india-permit-by-mid-november-115102100493_1.html

Air Costa expects pan-India permit by mid-November

October 21, 2015

Air Costa, will be launching its services to new destinations other than Delhi as soon the pan-India license is issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Delhi will have fog between November and January which creates operational issues for the airlines. For a new carrier like ours it would be better to avoid the risk and wait a little while for the launch of services to the national capital,"Captain K N Babu, chief executive officer of Air Costa told Business Standard.

Air Costa is expected to get the license by mid-November, 2015 according to its CEO. The grant of license was taking a little longer than was promised by the Ministry, apparently because the airlines has again been subjected to the security clearance owing to some old rules.

The airline CEO said they have been collecting the data on various sectors as they would be launching the services to destinations that are financially promising once the pan-India permit was issued.

The company, which owns a fleet of four Embraer aircraft, is currently operating services connecting 9 cities including Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Coimbatore.
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HAWK21M · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:17 pm Post subject:

What is their current fleet like.... in numbers.
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KALINGARAJAN · Member Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Posts: 53

2 E-190s and 2 E-170s, but it is likely that E-170s will be phased out and replaced by E-190s.

747-237 · Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:46 pm Post subject:

http://www.firstpost.com/business/air-costa-seeks-ministry-nod-for-pan-india-license-fund-raising-plans-on-card-2530348.html

Air Costa seeks ministry nod for pan-India license; fund raising plans on card

Dec 2, 2015

Regional airlines want to fly across the country and at least one startup is in talks with a foreign airline for possible equity participation even before getting permission to fly. The interest in India's aviation sector does not seem to diminish, never mind the punishing cost structure in which airlines are forced to operate in this country.

A senior official in the ministry of civil aviation said today that Vijayawada based Air Costa, a successful regional player, has sought permission from the ministry to go for a pan-India license. "We have sought more details from Air Costa and the matter is still pending," this official said.

Air Costa's current fleet size is four Embraer aircraft and will three more aircraft by January. The airline applied for a pan-India license in August and wants to fly to Delhi and Bengaluru once the permit is granted. As of now, the airline connects nine stations across seven airports, mainly in Southern India.

Deputy CEO Vivek Choudhary said Air Costa has been in talks for raising undisclosed amount of funds to spearhead expansion. "We are looking at private equity or a strategic investor but right now we are too small. Perhaps we will get better valuation after we grow to become a pan-India player," Choudhary said.

The ministry wanted to know from Air Costa whether it will retain its regional flying permit once it is given permission to fly pan-India to which the airline has already communicated to the ministry that it will surrender its regional permit once a national permit is with Air Costa.

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747-237 · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:12 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-costa-to-launch-delhi-flights-add-four-planes-in-2016-115120700819_1.html

Air Costa to launch Delhi flights, add four planes in 2016

December 7, 2015

Air Costa will spread its wings to Delhi and Bhubaneshwar next year and will add four Embraer jets to its fleet as a part of its plan for pan India operations.

At present, Air Costa operates 32 flights daily from its hubs in South India. It has four Embraer jets ( two E-170 and E-190 each) and holds a regional operations permit. The company has applied for a national permit and expects to receive it by January-end.

"We will return to lessors two 67-seater E-170 jets and induct three 110-seater E-190 jets by March. All our inductions next year will be of the E-190 variant. This will increase our seat capacity. We plan to start services to Delhi and Bhubaneshwar from summer schedule once we receive national permit," said Vivek Choudhary, deputy CEO, Air Costa.

Currently the airline has engineering and operations base in Vijaywada and Chennai and flies to nine cities. Outside South India it flies to Ahmedabad and Jaipur.

Air Costa is evaluating Delhi as its hub in northern India as it plans national operations. "Our plan is to connect metros with non metros," he said.

"The loads and yield in first half of the year has been good but at net level we are yet to make a profit. We hope to break even by second quarter of next fiscal. At present the company is fully funded by promoters but we are in discussions with private investors for funding," Choudhury added.

Last February the airline ordered 50 Embraer E-2 jets and those deliveries will begin from 2018 onwards.

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747-237 · Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:01 am Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-costa-gets-noc-for-pan-india-operations-115121800129_1.html

Air Costa gets an NOC for pan-India operations

December 18, 2015

South India-based regional airline, Air Costa, has received a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation for Pan-India operations.

Vivek Choudhary, its deputy CEO, said that the airline will add an E190 (110-seater) this month to its fleet. This will be followed by an addition in February 2016, taking the total fleet to five aircraft followed by further additions in 2016.

To cater to the expansion plan, in February 2014, the airline had placed an order for 50 E2 Jets with Embrarer that are equipped with latest avionics, upgraded engines with better specific fuel consumption.

Pan-India operations shall commence from the summer schedule 2016, he said.

Ramesh Lingamaneni, chairman of the airline said in a statement that Air Costa is a two year young airline. From operating two Embraer aircraft to five destinations with 300 employees, in a year’s time, the carrier has doubled its fleet to four aircraft and has served nine destinations with close to 800 employees.
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HAWK21M · Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2015 3:24 pm Post subject:

Are the loads good
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megatop747

Incident: Costa E190 near Hyderabad on Feb 17th 2016, engine and/or brakes problem

An Air Costa Embraer ERJ-190, registration VT-LVR performing flight LB-671 from Hyderabad to Tirupati (India) with 111 people on board, was descending through FL160 towards Tirupati when the crew stopped the descent, climbed the aircraft back to FL280 and returned to Hyderabad for a safe landing about 80 minutes after departure.

The airline initially reported an engine problem that began to develop shortly after departure. The airline later stated the crew suspected problems with the brakes and decided the longer runway in Hyderabad was needed.
http://avherald.com/h?article=4942394e&opt=0

747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 7:46 am Post subject:

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/44310-indias-air-costa-to-place-renewed-order-with-embraer

India's Air Costa to place renewed order with Embraer

Air Costa is set to place a repeat of its 2014 order with Embraer the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer's Chief Commercial Officer John Slattery has told Bloomberg news.

In February 2014, the Indian domestic operator placed an order for fifty E-Jets E2s with an additional fifty purchase rights. Broken down, the order includes twenty-five EMB190-E2s and twenty-five EMB195-E2s. The purchase rights are for an additional twenty-five E190-E2s and twenty-five E195-E2s bringing the overall order to 100 aircraft if all options are exercised.
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