India’s latest regional carrier Fly91 is all set to start commercial operations tomorrow, March 18, 2024. The airline currently has one aircraft in its fleet (VT-FIB) and will see another join within weeks. This will be the first airline to be based in Goa, where it is headquartered and hubbed at Manohar International Airport (MIA), Mopa, North Goa.
The airline has invoked nostalgia with the name “Fly91” coming from India’s country code “+91” and the airline opting for “IC” as its IATA code. IC was the code of Indian Airlines which merged with Air India. The airline has opted for “GOA” as its three letter ICAO code and “GOAN” as its call sign.
On Monday, pilots will hear GOAN 1924 as its first commercial flight operating to Bengaluru from MIA, Mopa. The airline will operate from Terminal 1 at Bengaluru.
The routes
The airline will operate Goa – Bengaluru – Sindhudurg – Bengaluru – Goa on Mon, Fri and Sat while it will operate Goa – Hyderabad – Sindhudurg – Hyderabad – Goa on Tue and Sun. Understandably the utilisation is lower in the early days, with 4 flights a day just five days a week, with complete ground stop on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In terms of hours, the utilisation is Six hours and twenty five minutes on three days and six hours and forty five minutes on two days.
The airline is pricing Emergency exit rows at INR 1000 and few other premium seats at INR 500. The routes to Hyderabad and Bengaluru from MIA, Mopa are commercial while those to Sindhudurg are under RCS-UDAN.
Network Thoughts
Interestingly, the Goa to Bengaluru and Hyderabad market is crowded. On the Mopa to Bengaluru route, 43 weekly flights, while to Hyderabad there are 30 weekly flights. Goa has two airports. There are 53 additional flights to Hyderabad from Goa – Dabolim, while Bengaluru sees another 64 weekly flights. Amidst this, a small carrier with limited capacity and a slower aircraft is challenging in terms of sales.
As for Sindhudurg, the long routes from both Bengaluru and Hyderabad are under RCS-UDAN which means the airline will get subsidy and exclusivity. Sindhudrug is about 75 kms by road from Mopa and takes 90 minutes by road. Sindhudurg was to be connected with Mysore with 2x weekly flights which did not attract any passengers. How will the town fare for flights from Bengaluru and Hyderabad?
Tail Note
Regional aviation is full of skeletons in India but it is too early to write anything about a new carrier. How it differs from the previous ones is the experience which the promoter brings to the table. While airlines do end up having people from aviation running the show, the promoter’s understanding could well lead to a “make” in this case, instead of a “break”.
The airline has announced its plan to fly to Agatti, Jalgaon, Pune amongst other places. With Sindhudurg and Agatti, the infrastructure for tourists is a serious challenge. Will it be ahead of time for these places?
The success would depend on the learnings from the fall of erstwhile regional carriers and not doing the mistakes all over again! Wishing “Fly91” the very best for its first flight and beyond!
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