Close on the heels of Qatar Airways displaying an interest in the country’s biggest price range carrier IndiGo, Dubai-based low-cost carrier flydubai on Monday said it was “open” to investing in an effective Indian airline.
“The emphasis from shareholders is to improve the airline in Dubai, and right now we have no mandate to go outside. But we have a dialogue with Indian airlines all the time. If we get a good opportunity, we will think about it. We will then go & seek approval from the shareholders,” said chief executive officer Ghaith Al Ghaith.
The Indian govt permitted foreign airlines to buy up to 49 % stakes in Indian carriers in September 2012. Since then, the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad’s Airways has bought a 24 % share in Naresh-Goyal’s Jet Airways.
Two new projects, Air Asia India & Tata-SIA Airlines, have been registered & will start flights soon.
Budget airlines SpiceJet and GoAir are scouting for strategic investors to infuse cash.
Flydubai started operations in June 2009 & has grown rapidly to a fleet of 37 aircraft. The airline is seeking to increase its reach. “More than 2.4 billion people live within a 5-&-a-half hour radius of Dubai. The opportunity for us to provide connectivity is large,” Al Ghaith said.
In India, flydubai included 4 new flights to Delhi & 3 weekly flights each to Kochi & Thiruvananthapuram this month. The no-frills carrier connects 6 airports, including Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi and Lucknow.
The airline is looking at increasing to smaller cities. “We will take a chance with the smaller airports, even if other airlines do not think it is profitable. There is more value in providing people from smaller cities to Dubai,” Al Ghaith said.
Flydubai is using 3,000 seats of the 5,000 seats per week to India assigned till the summer routine of 2015. It operates a fleet of Boeing 737s, which will grow to 43 by 2014 & 50 by 2015. It has ordered 111 more Boeing 737s, which will be delivered from 2016.
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