Air Costa receives national permit

Regional airline Air Costa on Monday received a national permit from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. This will enable it to launch pan India services.

At present the airline covers 8 destinations including Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Tirupathi, and Vizag. The airline has three Embraer E190 planes.

"With this permit we can now replicate our philosophy of connecting the smaller towns and cities to the metros across India. We have plans to connect Delhi and Mumbai to smaller towns and cities across India. Our immediate focus now moves to adding aircraft and expanding our operations," said Vivek Choudhary, Air Costa chief executive officer in a statement.

Last month the airline was forced to suspend operations for a day following dispute with its lessor and raising concern about its future.