Air Costa suspends operations for a day
In a development that could once again raise doubts over the viability of regional and no-frills airlines in the country, Vijayawada-based Air Costa cancelled all its flights and operations for a day on Thursday, owing to payment problems with the companies which leased aircraft to it.
Hyderabad: In a development that could once again raise doubts over the viability of regional and no-frills airlines in the country, Vijayawada-based Air Costa cancelled all its flights and operations for a day on Thursday, owing to payment problems with the companies which leased aircraft to it.
A spokesperson for the airline told The Hans India that the operations were suspended for one day in the wake of problems with lessers and the airlines would resume all flights on Friday. “Air Costa has already resolved all the issues with lesser. We will resume operations tomorrow,” the spokesperson said, denying any payment issues. About 1,800 people booked tickets on Air Costa flights for Thursday. However, the regional airline accommodated them on other flights.
Air Costa is the second regional airline to land in problems within a week of Bangalore-based Air Pegasus grounding its operations. Promoted by Vijayawada-based LEPL Group in 2013, the airline has four Embraer E-190 planes in its fleet and operates over 20 flights a day to nine destinations across the country. The cities it covers include Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore and Jaipur. The airline currently employs 800 people.
The suspension of Air Costa’s operations on Thursday assumes significance in the wake of the airline planning to induct more aircraft into its fleet. It recently announced that it would take another five aircraft on lease this fiscal, expanding the fleet size to five.
