Regional carrier flybig has inducted a twin otter in its fleet which will begin commercial operations starting September 01, 2023. This marks a new phase for the airline which has had its own share of issues since starting operations in January 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic.
After initial hiccups of operations in Central India, the airline moved its operations to North East and has seen a steady phase since then, largely driven by subsidy under the RCS-UDAN scheme as well as that from the state governments. The airline attempted returning to Central India one more time with flights to Gondia from Hyderabad and Indore, along with announcement of more routes from Hyderabad but that attempt was short lived with a few routes not even starting commercial services before the aircraft moved to North East, again!
The Paris Air Show this year was all about orders from IndiGo and Air India, but flybig signed up for two Twin Otters at the Paris Air Show – which largely went unnoticed because of the mega order from IndiGo and formalisation of MoU into firm order by Air India. The first aircraft landed a few weeks ago and was operated by an Indonesian carrier before flybig. The induction takes the fleet count to four for flybig.The airline had signed a Letter of Intent in March 2022 for the Twin Otters.
The Twin Otters
The DHC-6 or Twin Otter is a Canadian origin aircraft which started production in the 1960s. The production had come to a stop in late 1980s, only to restart twenty years later. The aircraft is powered by Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 engines.
Flybig will be the only operator of the type in India. In the neighbourhood, Maldives has a high concentration of Twin Otters – especially the ones which come with floats. The option for Twin Otters includes floats or tricycle landing gear.
Flights open for sale
Flybig has started accepting reservations for flights between Dehradun and Hindon along with Hindon and Ludhiana. This will bring back two airports on the active airport map again. Hindon saw operations by Star Air and Air Heritage in the past with both being not operational currently. Ludhiana had flights from Delhi by Alliance Air under RCS-UDAN scheme but were not continued beyond the exclusivity period.
| Flight Number | Sector | Dep Time | Arr Ttime |
| S9 305 | Dehradun – Hindon | 08:10 | 09:05 |
| S9 306 | Hindon – Ludhiana | 09:25 | 10:50 |
| S9 307 | Ludhiana – Hindon | 11:10 | 12:35 |
| S9 310 | Hindon – Dehradun | 12:55 | 13:50 |
The airline will launch flights between Dehradun and Pithorgarh soon, which will increase utilisation from current four to six daily flights. The aircraft is configured with 2×1 (three abreast) seating and 18 seats are on sale.
Network Thoughts
It is heartening to see a regional carrier expand in Indian skies. This would see the airline open a new base – Dehradun and operate a new type. The airline will also open up two new airports, which had gone into disuse.
All of this will have to be balanced with managing the workforce for a new type, spares and cost of operations. With support from RCS-UDAN it should be easier to achieve, though UDAN alone does not cover total cost of operations for a carrier, irrespective of aircraft type.
However, the induction of Twin Otter by an airline in India puts a question mark on the viability of Do-228 which also seats a similar number of passengers. The government as well as HAL had pushed the narrative of “Made in India” planes when Alliance Air inducted its first (and only) Dornier Do-228 in its fleet. The Do-228 also suffers from lack of manpower amongst other issues. This seriously hampers the sales potential of the Dornier.
You can now order Network Thoughts baggage tags and/or book marks!
Follow NetworkThoughts on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube.
For advertising opportunities, get in touch via the Contact us page