The Wadia Group promoted budget airlines Go Air is looking at a likely start to its international operations by the summer of 2015-16.
According to Giorgio De Roni, CEO, Go Airlines (India) Ltd (or Go Air as it is called) will apply for ‘international traffic rights’ to the Ministry of Civil Aviation once it has put in place a fleet of 20 aircraft.
The company currently has 19 aircrafts (mostly Airbus A320). The 20th carrier is expected to be delivered by July. The full fleet of 20 flights would be operational from October this year.
“You need to have 20 aircraft before you apply for international route permits. We would look to approach the Government for permission once the last aircraft is delivered. International operations are likely to begin by FY-16,” he told presspersons.
Roni was in the city to announce the launch of Go Air’s new flight between Kolkata and Nagpur and Kolkata and Patna.
International r outes
According to him, the company is yet to decide on the international routes that it would like to pursue. Discussions, he said, are “too premature” at this point.
“We need to first apply for international traffic routes and then work on the commercial deployment of our aircraft. We will have to look at the profitable routes and plan step by step,” Roni said.
With a fleet of A320s, he indicated, that possible routes would focus on the Gulf nations and South-East Asian countries. Ideally, A320s work best when there is a flying time of 3 to 3.5 hours, he added.