Jagson airlines to launch national carrier operations

Company Release

New Delhi, January 6

Jagson Airlines, India’s first private airline, today announced the launch of its National Carrier operations. Jagson Airlines will fly as a National Carrier covering nine cities by the end of 2006, with the inaugural flight between Delhi and Bangalore in April/May. Jagson Airlines will be targeting the existing Economy Class travelers and frequent flyers of full service airlines with premium service at competitive prices.

Shaping the Future of Indian Skies

Announcing the appointment of Mr Uttam Kumar Bose as President & CEO of Jagson Airlines, Chairman Mr J P Gupta said, “We are pleased to have Mr Bose lead the charge in a market that is projected to grow at handsome rates year on year. We believe that as the first private player who came way back in 1992, we will be playing a major role in shaping the future of Indian skies. We have taken our time to get into the National Carrier platform but we believe that we are better prepared and have more experience to back us than any other new airline that has taken to the skies.”

According to President & CEO Jagson Airlines, Mr Uttam Kumar Bose, “The backbone of domestic air travel has been the Economy Class business traveler or frequent flyers of full service airlines. However, they seem to have lost out on comfort, choice and service in the recasting of the airline business around Low Cost Carriers. Today, the Economy Class traveler of full service airlines has got very little of the advantages of the boom in aviation: He tends to book late because he plans by the hour; he is usually at the suffering end of jam packed flights which either have no proper in-flight service or poor infrastructure on the ground, leading to delays or inept handling of normal delays and logistic disruptions. The Economy Traveller, therefore, by and large, tends to spend as much as he did before for poorer inflight and on ground service. Jagson Airlines plans to make a focused difference to this segment and earn their loyalty by constant innovation and changes that bring them packages that are specifically tailored to their pricing, in-flight and on-ground expectations. We believe that the meat of the revenue pie for all airlines has today become a soft underbelly and we will be able to drive home the advantage of starting on a clean slate and addressing clearly this segment.”

Investing in the Fleet of the Future

The Airline will be acquiring 19 Airbus aircraft for its fleet. In the first few months, the airline has made provision to lease six aircraft. Says Mr Bose, “We believe that more and more people will travel by air in the foreseeable future and the difference would be made by those airlines which are able to carry more people, in greater comfort over longer distances. Our choice of aircraft is, therefore, getting decided by looking at the parameters of the next five years in Indian aviation while the rest of the industry is still seeking to optimize on lower capacity aircraft.”

The airline plans to employ over 800 people in the first year, ramp up to 1400 people in the second year and over 3000 Jagson employees by the end of the third year.

Jagson Airlines has earmarked an initial investment of Rs 250 crore which will be ramped up over the course of its operation.

Nationwide coverage, backed by partnerships

In the first phase, Jagson Airlines will cover the cities of Delhi, Bangalore, Patna, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jaipur, Dibrugarh and Goa. In the second phase, while adding flights to these sectors, Jagson will extend its operations to Lucknow and Cochin and, thereafter, to Hyderabad.

The company is entering into a series of alliances and partnerships for ground handling, ticketing and aircraft maintenance in order to give its customers a 24x7 full service experience at competitive prices. The airline will also be differentiated by a host of packages and offers that would be innovative, rewarding and keep Jagson customers a notch ahead of others.

For further information, contact :

Ira Arora

Torque Communications Pvt. Ltd.

C 1/ 40 A, Safdarjung Development Area

New Delhi - 16

Ph : 51756158, 51756156-57