The Sajjan Jindal-led company has currently bid for only one route - the Bengaluru-Vijayanagar sector - under the regional connectivity scheme, Joint Managing Director and Group’s Chief Financial Officer Seshagiri Rao told ET.
To begin operations in the civil aviation space, the proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) will need to take necessary approvals from the aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as a scheduled commuter airline.
As of now, the company has invested roughly Rs 20 crore in the business but no further details were available on the type of aircraft.
According to Rao, the aircraft can also serve the tourist circuit from Bengaluru to Hampi. Currently, Hampi can be reached only via road from Bengaluru and takes about six hours.
The aviation ministry is said to have received proposals from 11 airlines, including Air India and SpiceJet. The ministry expects to begin operations at about 15 unserved or underserved airports soon.
In June, the government had announced plans to boost regional air connectivity at fares of Rs 2,500 per hour of flight. This was aimed at bridging the gap between costs of operations through the regional subsidy fund created by charging domestic airlines a charge per flight.
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