Edition 32
On Wednesday, 31st January 2024; Zooom Air took off for Ayodhya from Delhi. The airline was founded in 2013, but took to the skies in 2017 after receiving its AOP. The initial routes were to Durgapur from Delhi and the airline had bid for multiple routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN. Operating with the CRJ200s, the only one to operate this type in India in current times – it evoked memories of the Air Sahara CRJs which many were used to in the hay days of Air Sahara. The airline was short lived as it wound up soon and made its way across multiple challenges.
After years of statements around restart, a visit to courts and its aircraft spending time on the tarmac at Delhi – the airline made a mysterious reappearance a day before its first flight in its new avatar. The new avatar involves the airline being called Zooom, an extra “O” over the previous name and not the jazzy colour scheme of its past. The airline also has a new CEO. In a country where no airline has taken back to the skies after being grounded, Zooom joins the likes of SpiceJet which also had restarted from an old AOC which belonged to ModiLuft, much like Zooom which has the AOC of Zoom Air.
The first flight went with much fanfare to Ayodhya. However, the airline had no functional website and a look at the airport website shows that there was no flight listed for the next day. Additionally none of the top three online travel agencies (OTAs) list the airline for flights to Ayodhya from Delhi. For a small airline, attracting traffic has always been a challenge. Additionally, the airline is not available for sale on any platform. Joining the bandwagon and going to Ayodhya is one part, but will the airline sustain in the longer run? The airline’s website is now up and running and shows thrice a week service to Ayodhya from Delhi. The website comes up on a day when SpiceJet launched multiple flights to the temple town.
From a regional aviation perspective, it is important that airlines like these sustain but when you operate a flight without any plan, how can one expect passengers to find you? History might be created but a lot will be needed to ensure that the airline does not become history again! Wishing Zooom Air – the airline with an extra “O”, all the good wishes!
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