Indus Airways to fly soon

Yet another private carrier, Indus Airways, will take to the sky this month-end launching services initially to north Indian cities from Delhi and Mumbai with two 50-seater Canadian Regional Jets.

The CRJ-200s, leased from Lufthansa, would be inducted in the coming weeks and three more would join the fleet by the year-end, said the prime promoter of the airline and liquor baron Brig. Kapil Mohan of Mohan Meakins.

He said the Indus fleet would grow next year with the induction of two 86-seater CRJ-700s and three new generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Mohan said the actual date of the launch in October was being worked out with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and would be announced soon. The CRJs would operate in a single class configuration and would be fitted with executive class seats.

Besides Delhi, which would be the "initial" operational base and Mumbai, the airline would operate to cities like Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jammu, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore.

While the aircraft coming in this year would be operated by foreign pilots, Indus Airways has sent several Indian pilots to Montreal for being trained on the CRJs.

Mohan, who is the main promoter of the carrier, said he along with several businessmen including two NRIs have invested in the airline.