Paramount Airways to provide full travel package

Paramount Airways plans to supplement its bread-and-butter airline services with a package that would take care of passenger's other needs such as transport and accommodation.

Paramount Airways managing director M Thiagarajan said that the aim was to provide a "total package solutions" for passengers.

To provide total package solutions, Paramount is working on associating with hotels to provide its passengers with accommodation.

Paramount is to start commercial operations on September 8 with one Embraer aircraft that would fly six flights a day.

The Embraer would fly in the morning from Coimbatore to New Delhi; follow that with a round trip between New Delhi and Kochi, and the last leg would be the return to Coimbatore from New Delhi.

The last two flights in the day would be a round trip between Coimbatore and Chennai.

The Embraer is critical to Paramount's business plan. Using the Embraer, Paramount aimed to occupy the slot between low cost airlines that use ATRs for short distances and the bigger 737s and A320s that are used for the longer distance, said Thiagarajan earlier.

"There is a lot of potential to fly across the country that is beyond the range of ATR but not viable for 737 and A320. The Embraer is a jet type aircraft with the comfort of an A320 or 737, with no cramped feeling. It is comparable to any mainstream aircraft," Thiagarajan had said.

The essence of Paramount's business plan is flying routes that are largely untouched by the existing airlines. The aim is to roll out 30 flights a day over the next year, and position itself as a premium service but low cost airline.

The company had leased five planes from Brazil's Embraer for $138 million (Rs 600 crore), which are to be delivered over a 12-month period.

Paramount will be headquartered in Coimbatore, where it has set up its own hangar and aircraft maintenance facilities.

Embraer is to set up a warehousing facility in India that will stock spare parts. Paramount will also receive engineering support for two years as well as initial pilot support from Embraer.

At the start, Paramount's flights will be captained by pilots sent by Embraer. The first officers will be Indians on Paramount's payroll. The result of the arrangement is that Paramount's pilots are unlikely to be poached by competitors- a bone of contention in the airline industry today.

As Paramount is the only domestic airline using Embraer at the moment, there is a natural check on a attrition among pilots. To fly an Airbus or an ATR, planes used by other airlines, pilots who qualified on an Embraer would need time to qualify once again.

Paramount plans to supplement traditional outlets for tickets with kiosks that work in the manner of bank ATMs. Potential passengers could use the kiosks, which would be placed in shopping complexes, to check availability of tickets and buy the same.