At a time when most of the domestic scheduled carriers are struggling hard to survive in the business, non-schedule operator Jagson Airlines has decided to relaunch its operations. The carrier, which had withdrawn operations two years ago, has sought the directorate general of civil aviation?s (DGCA?s) permission to certify its maintenance schedules and carry out calibration of equipment so as to resume its operations in the next one month.
The Delhi-based airline plans to restart with three routes including Shimla, Kullu and Meerut. According to company officials, the only thing pending is DGCA’s go ahead. ?We have three Dornier-228 planes that are 18 seaters. Two of them are ready to fly. Depending on DGCA’s permission, we can start operations as early as within 15 days,? an official said.
Jagson Airlines ? a wholly owned company by Jagson International ? had got the non-operator’s permit in 1991. The carrier since then was operating charter flights and later regular flights from Delhi to Dharamshala, Kullu, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Dehradun. It had even planned to start scheduled low-cost airline in 2006.
The carrier has now hired engineers from Nepal and imported spare parts, engines, tools to restart the operation. ?Even though the aviation market is still not lucrative, we are looking at flying to destinations which would have tourist traffic. We would like to provide feeder services to Kullu and Shimla first and then move to other destinations including Meerut,? the official said.
