Air Costa looks to break even next fiscal

Launched last year, the Vijayawada-based airlines operates 34 flights from nine destinations

Hyderabad: Air Costa, the Vijayawada-based low-cost airlines, is looking to break even next fiscal in the wake of its expanded route network as well as fleet. "Like some other carriers, we also had challenging times and had some losses. But now we are picking up and expect a better financial performance in the winter schedule. We are hopeful of attaining a break even in the next two-three quarters," said Vivek Choudhary, CFO, Air Costa.

He said that the airline had clocked a 25 per cent growth in revenue and yield in June month-on-month. "Our load factor has gone up to 82 per cent from 72 per cent when we launched the airline last year," he said. The regional airline, which commenced its operations October last year, currently operates 34 flights from nine destinations with a fleet of four Embraer aircraft. "We are taking delivery of one more aircraft this month and with that we plan to launch two new routes within the summer schedule," Choudhary said.

"We will definitely apply for a pan-India flying licence. The issue so far was that our licence is in the name of the holding company. But now the AP High Court has given its nod to demerge our aviation business from the main business. So, we will now form a wholly-owned subsidiary for aviation business under the parent company LEPL and seek the licence," he said.