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been operationalised with in the growth of the market for Manoj Chacko, Chief Executive
over 2,50,000 flights operated regional transport aircraft of dif- Officer of FLY91. FLY91 is head-
under the UDAN scheme. fering sizes, with aircraft ranging quartered in Goa along with its
Approximately 1.32 million from the three seater Tecnam, training facilities.
passengers have undertaken nine seater Cessna 208B, 19
UDAN flights. 13 Airlines have seater Twin Otter, 50 seater FLY91 has leased both ATR
commenced operations under Embraer 145, 42/72/78 seat 72-600 aircraft from Dubai
UDAN, including start-ups with ATRs and Q-400s. The larger Aerospace Enterprise (DAE)
the last 10 years alone have Indian carriers are also operating Ltd. The airline plans to grow its
resulted in the birth of six new 189 seater Airbus 320/321s and fleet to six ATRs by 2025 and
regional airlines. Boeing 737s on regional routes. eventually grow its fleet to 30
aircraft. The new regional carrier
UDAN scheme has resulted says it wants to enhance last
in new regional carriers such New Regional Carriers mile air connectivity and plans
as Air Taxi, IndiaOne, Star Air, The newest Indian regional to connect over 50 cities across
FlyBig and Fly91. India’s high carrier is Fly91, which began India in the next five years. The
cost civil aviation environment operations with a flight from airline was granted its first set of
can however prove challenging Goa to the Agatti Islands in routes under the government’s
to new entrants and regional Lakshadweep in March. FLY91 Regional Connectivity Scheme
carrier FlyBig has had to tempo- is targeting air connectivity to (RCS) UDAN in July 2023,
rarily suspend flights, following Indian Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns allowing it to connect to Indian
issues with its lessors. The and is operating two ATR 72-600 towns such as Sindhudurg,
airline however, says it chose aircraft on lease. ‘India’s avia- Jalgaon, Nanded and Agatti
to return some of its ATR air- tion sector is expanding at an with business and leisure des-
craft due to spares shortages. unprecedented rate, and FLY91 tinations of Bangalore, Goa,
FlyBig operated a five aircraft is proud to be part of this growth Hyderabad and Pune.
fleet comprising of three ATR story. We are firmly committed
72-500/600 and De Havilland to the country’s development
Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters through last mile air connectivity, In Growth Mode
that aim to serve the unserved & Star Air is India’s largest pri-
The UDAN scheme has resulted under-served cities in India,’ said vately held regional airline and
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