Alhind Group has received the Civil Aviation Ministry’s approval to start a passenger airline.
Alhind Group, a Kerala-based travel service operator, has received the Civil Aviation Ministry’s approval to start a passenger airline. The airline, Alhind Air, aims to launch its operations by the end of 2024 once it receives the final approval, the air operator certificate, from the DGCA.
The Kerala company reportedly plans to begin operations with three ATR-72 turboprop planes with an initial investment of Rs 200-500 crore. The aircraft do regional routes within 90 minutes.
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With its headquarters in Kochi, the starting flights will focus primarily on the southern region, connecting Kochi with Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Chennai.
“When we started Alhind three decades ago, Calicut, the place I hail from, lacked established travel agencies, and I used to often hear from people about their travel woes,” said T. Mohamed Haris, chairman of Alhind Group of Companies.
The air ticketing and tour services operator plans to add narrow-body planes such as the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 Max for domestic operations. The Kerala airline is focused on tapping India’s fast-expanding air traffic and the high air travel demand from Kerala to Gulf countries.
Now with 2000 employees and nearly 100 branches across India and over 25 in the Middle East, the Alhind plans to commence international operations once its fleet size grows over 20 planes in the next two years.
The Alhind group serves as the General Sales Agent (GSA) for multiple airlines. With a turnover of Rs 20,000 crore, Haris highlighted, “The capacity to challenge the fares offered by any of our competitors is our USP.”
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The Alhind group held its ‘Global Business Conclave’ on 23 July last year in Calicut, celebrating its huge turnover.
With travel and tourism industry partners and thousands of employees from pan-India and the Middle East present, the conclave was formally inaugurated by Mustapha Jawara, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Gambia. Dr. Khalid Yousef A. Bargawi, the Cultural Attaché of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, was also present at the event as the chief guest.
