Wings on fire

Paramount Airways is all set to enter the big aviation league. An airline that has been operating what it calls an all-executive-class fleet, is now in final stages of talks with Bombardier and ATR. In not more than two months, by February 2010, Bombardier's Q400s or ATR's turbo props - 10 aircraft in all - will adorn the fleet of the south-Indian carrier. The target for paramount is simple. All ground work is through to operate the turbo props predominantly in Tier II and Tier III cities. Some of the cities that have been shortlisted are Pondicherry, Mysore, Salem, Bellary, Rajamundry etc., all in south India to start with. The number of destinations the airline covers will then increase from the current 17 to 40 by 2011.With a bare minimum fleet of 5 aircraft (all Embraer) the company has maintained the best passenger load factor among all airlines in the country. Paramount is also the only Airline in India that have seen Rs 79 cr profits as of March 2009. Come October 2010, when the airline completes 5 years of its operations, it will spread its wings overseas. Negotiations are already complete with Airbus to buy 10 of their 321 aircraft. The planes are to be acquired at a list price of USD 90 million. The deal is to be funded by the European Central Bank through a 12 year loan.The Airbus 321s will all be used for the company's international flights. Initially, Paramount will fly to South-East Asian destinations like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Penang and Middle East designations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

DGCA deregisters 3 Paramount aircraft...

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has deregistered three of the five aircraft in the fleet of Chennai-based Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd. This is the second time since last year that the regulator has deregistered aircraft at the behest of lessors owing to defaults in lease payment. GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas) last year confiscated three aircraft from Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, the country’s second largest private airline, for this reason. In October Gecas had sought to de-register Paramount’s aircraft and DGCA was considering the move. Four-year-old Paramount, with a market share of around 2%, largely flies within southern India, using its leased fleet of Embraer 70-75 seater aircraft. “Air traffic control (ATC) has already been informed of the registration numbers of the aircraft today,” said one of two top government officials. The second government official said the airline has told DGCA that the aircraft should not be deregistered as the carrier has won a case over lease payments in London against Gecas. “We will not go on hearsay,” the official said. “When the original copy of any such order comes, then we can register them again with the relevant charges.” A Paramount Airways official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that there was an order to deregister the aircraft but reiterated that the airline has won a case over the issue in London. Paramount will present its case to DGCA, this official said, adding that he expects the planes to keep flying. Paramount’s aircraft carrying the registration numbers VT-PAD, VT-PAE and VT-PAF have been deregistered, according to the officials. The three aircraft were part of a lease agreement with Gecas dated 29 July 2005. The airline is currently operating around 20 daily flights after two of its aircraft were grounded in the past three months due to engineering issues, said another airline official who asked not be named as he is not authorized to speak with the media. Gecas’s spokesperson could not be reached for comments by email or telephone. DGCA’s spokesperson was not available to comment.

Paramount Airways flying in rough weather

Aircraft lessor GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas), an arm of General Electric Co. (GE), has asked India’s aviation regulator to de-register three Embraer jets leased to Chennai-based Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd, after the airline defaulted on payments for the aircraft. Indian carriers have been under financial strain with at least $1 billion (about Rs4,800 crore) in losses in the fiscal year ended March, resulting in defaults on aircraft payments. Simultaneously, the global economic recession has meant that lessors suffering a credit crunch are pushing hard to extract payments. Last year, Gecas confiscated three aircraft from Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, the country’s second largest private airline, owing to non-payment of dues. In a letter dated 25 September to Paramount and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Gecas says the airline “has failed to remedy the events of default referred in the notice and as at the date of this notice there still remains $215,540.18” in dues. Paramount has informed DGCA that it has already paid 65% of the sum and has a deposit of about $15 million with Gecas, including a $5 million safety deposit and the balance towards maintenance reserve. “As per the contract, Paramount is entitled to refund to the tune of $1.27 million,” it said. A Paramount official said on condition of anonymity that the airline has asked Gecas “to offset the rentals against the reserves”. He added that the matter is being resolved through talks. Paramount, which has a 2% share in the domestic market, runs a fleet of five leased Embraer jets. It has kept its operations limited and manageable so far, unlike other carriers that have outpaced the local industry’s growth. Gecas has sought back three of these aircraft, leased as part of a 29 July 2005 agreement. Gecas said in its letter to DGCA that it has the option to terminate the leases if Paramount continued to default on payments and operate the aircraft in breach of its grounding notice dated 24 September.

No Small aircraft @ Delhi...

On the eve of Independence day the Business-Standard published a news on front page regarding not allowing small aircrafts @ Delhi Airport... the excerpts from the news-->

• Delhi Airport will not allow additional smaller planes from winter of 2007-08, these aircraft include ATR's, Bombardiers, Embraers & Sukhoi Superjet 100.
• DIAL's decision maight be followed by GVK grp-controlled Mumbai Airport (MIAL).
• Small aircraft movements (landings & take-offs) account for 10% of the 650 aircraft movements a day. the industry estimates that with thee regional airlines policy, at least 150 movements of small aircrafts will b added in the nxt 12 months.
• The Govt.'s policy to encourage connectivity, most of these aircraft (below, 40,000 kg) do not pay landing charges to the airports. this move is expected to act as a dampener for the Govt. recently announced policy to encourage regional ailrines.
• DIAL is also considering a move to impose landign charges on smaller planes currently landing in Delhi, though nothing has been finalised.
• Its said that the higher runway occupancy time of Bombardiers & ATR's reduce the movement of heavy aircraft, which provide the main chunk of airport revenues.
• Small aircraft lacked the category III equipment landing in a fog, which would result in delays & inconvenience to passengers.
• DIAL may consider permitting smaller aircraft once new runway is commissioned in 2008. The ban of smaller aircraft will impact the growth of regional airlines, which will primarily b using ATR's & Bombardiers. (for complete story plz...click on the title of the news)

I personally feel that this is a ploy against the development of regional airlines. may be any of the big or established airline is ploying hard to hinder the progress of regionnal airlines.

A few of the points that clicked me are-

1. how come this move is taken only after the announcement for new policy for regional airlines.
2. why this move is to be implemented in the winter season of 2007-08 at not right from now.
3. how come a small aircraft like ATR or Bombardier takes much longer time on the runway, whereas, they need shorter runway to takeoff.
4. also, the new aircrafts always have new avionics(all equipments used by pilots while flyin an aircraft...) installed in them, so how come they dont have the so called "cat-III" equipment, where as all the delays in fog are caused by bigger aircrafts which are older & the cost of implementing these equipments is much higher.
5. when, the Govt, has announced that it will gv concessions in landing charges, how come DIAL announcing that it may charge the landing charges.
6. to b on safer side DIAL says that it may allow smaller aircraft, when the new runway is ready, which I feel that is not likely to be completed on time.

these are a few questions which put creates a lot of confusion...some of the Delhi & NCR based airlines are-

• Spicejet
• Indigo Airlines
• Indian (now, Air India)
• Jagson Airlines
• MDLR Airlines...

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The Par-amount (Air)ways...

the only Business Airline in India...providing business class servies @economy fares...it flies only in South -India, where its a mkt. leader with a mkt. share of nearly 26% bt, if v see it on a national perspective its a mere 2%...it connects all the major n small cities in south- India... Paramount is eyeing a controlling stake of 51% in both Spicejet & GoAir... Spicejet is targeted 4 nearly $10 million where as, GoAir is targeted 4 anywhere between $ 25-35 million...if both the deals goes thru... Paramount will become third largest Airline in Indian Aviation industry...Paramount has a fleet 5 Embraer 170/190 series aircrafts the only airline in India using these jets... MD Mr. Thiagarajan was the youngest CEO of any Airline in the world when it took off (then, 27)...the business model adopted by Paramount is now being followed by many interntional airlines... atleast as of now, 4 me its really a Par-amount (Air)ways... Seed Newsvine Dig the Web!