Paramount Air plans hangar at Chennai airport

Paramount Airways, the all business class airline, is planning to put up a one-lakh sq ft hangar at the Chennai airport with an investment of $40 million (about Rs 178 crore).

The airlines is also reported to have finalised a tie-up with the Singapore Airlines (SA) to provide flight connections within India for passengers of SA.

Addressing a press conference, M Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways, said that the airline has been allotted one lakh sq ft of land at the Chennai airport. The airline is awaiting approval from other authorities and the hangar facility is likely to come up in the next 14 months.

A state-of-the-art hangar with all facilities would require an investment of $40 million (about Rs 178 crore), he said. Chennai hangar of Paramount would be a one such facility, he added.

Paramount is already having a hangar in Coimbatore. However, the airline is looking at making the Chennai facility a major MRO (maintenance and repair overhaul) services centre for its operations.

Thiagarajan also said the airline was in talks with international airlines to transport their international passengers on the Indian leg of their journey. He added that the airline had almost finalised the tie-up with Singapore Airlines and was likely to make an announcement on this soon.

The airlines launched a service between Chennai and Madurai on April 11 and will be launching Chennai-Bangalore, Chennai-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Kochi services on April 19. "By the end of next week, we will have close to 20 flights carrying about 1,500 passengers a day," he added.

About 60,000 passengers are reported to have travelled on Paramount Airways since its launch. Thiagarajan said that the airlines would provide a 50 per cent discount for the physically challenged and would offer free travel for the physically challenged children below 12 years, on all its flights.

By October, it is likely to have a fleet of eight aircraft and will initially be focusing on providing multiple connections to each city in the region. In the near future, it is planning to connect Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore and Tiruchi.

At present, it has two aircraft in its fleet.

Thiagarajn said that the airline was looking at having 20 aircraft and be a national player in the next 20 months.

He also expressed hope that the new aviation policy, which will be unveiled soon, would address issue of scarcity of pilots, by allowing foreigners as co-pilots.