Airline Fly91 gets licence, plans flights to Lakshadweep

NEW DELHI: A new regional airline will take to the skies this week that will, among other routes, link Lakshadweep to more cities. DGCA on Wednesday issued the air operator permit (AOP or licence) to aviation veteran Manoj Chacko-backed "Fly91".
The airline currently has two ATR-72 and will get four more by Sept, after which it plans to add six turboprops annually over next five years.
"We start operations in next few days and have five stations to begin with - Goa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Agatti, Sindhudurg and then Jalgaon, Pune and Nanded shortly thereafter. We will start flights between Goa & Agatti and Bengaluru & Agatti. Initially these will be twice or thrice weekly and by mid-June our Agatti flights will be daily," said Chacko, who has worked in senior positions in Emirates, American Express, SOPTC, Kingfisher and WNS.
As of now, Alliance Air is the only airline that flies to Lakshadweep nine times weekly. Based at Goa Mopa airport, Fly91 has been launched with an investment of Rs 200 crore."We are well funded and have a strong professional team. In five years, we plan to have a fleet of 32 ATRs," Chacko said.