Agatti ahoy: Manoj Chacko's regional carrier Fly 91 takes off today

MOPA: A new regional carrier took wings in India on Tuesday with aviation industry veteran Manoj Chacko-backed Fly 91 taking to the skies with a symbolic inaugural Mopa-Agatti-Mopa flight. Chacko says Fly 91 is the "world's most well capitalised regional carrier" after raising $25 million for the startup. The Goa (Mopa)-based airline will start commercial operations with Goa/Sindhudurg - Hyderabad/Bengaluru flights on March 18.
Mopa-Agatti flights will start in mid April.For years Kochi-Agatti has been the only flight route for Lakshadweep with Alliance Air the only airline to operate that route. Now the archipelago's arrival connectivity will improve with Fly 91 going to fly to Agatti from Mopa and Bengaluru.
Speaking at the launch virtually, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said: "A new regional carrier has launched from the new Mopa Airport under the leadership of PM Modi. The aviation sector has seen its sun rise since 2014. So many airlines have launched since 2014. The UDAN scheme has been a game changer. The viability gap funding offered under UDAN has made it possible to aerially connect Tier II/III cities. Fly 91 must fly as high as possible."

Chacko said: "We have two 70-seater ATRs as of now and the fleet will increase to six planes in four months. We plan to induct 6-7 ATRs every year. Mopa will be our first base. Over the next five years, Fly 91 aims to have six bases, 35 planes and to connect 50 city pairs."
The aviation industry veteran has been raising funds for the startup for the last four years and raised $25 million. "Ours is the only regional carrier in the world that has raised that quantum of capital," he said.
To begin with Fly 91 will connect Mopa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Sindhudurg, Jalgaon and Pune. It plans to add a new base every year where a certain number of planes and crew will be based.
"As of now our ATRs are 70-seaters. In a year we will reconfigure them to be 76 seaters," Chacko said.
The average flight time of different Fly 91 routes will be 55-90 minutes. “We will be offering buy on board service for snacks and beverages. Five to six rows of the 18 rows will have seat selection charge.”
With India now looking at two large airlines — IndiGo and Tata Group airlines led by Air India — how does Fly 91 see itself. Big airlines are known to have done network mirroring — launching flights on routes of startup or small airlines at almost the same time by pricing them a few hundred lower. IndiGo operates ATRs. Post Air India’s divestment, Alliance Air (which operate ATRs) is the only state-owned fixed wing airline. “I am here to provide last-mile connectivity and not compete with anyone. But to co-exist,” Chacko says.