Star Air, based in Bengaluru, has unveiled a substantial fleet expansion plan that could catapult it to become the largest pure-play regional airline.
Star Air currently owns nine aircraft: four Embraer E175s and five Embraer E145s. On Monday, it announced ambitions to increase its fleet size to 25 aircraft over the next three years, capitalizing on growth prospects in tier II and III markets.
While it will induct two E175 aircraft this fiscal year, four more will be added to the fleet in FY26. Star Air now conducts 36-48 flights per day on Udan and non-Udan routes, with plans to rise to 56 in six months with the introduction of new aircraft. Udan stands for Ude Desh ka Aam Aadmi, the government’s primary regional connectivity plan.
The Sanjay Ghodawat group airline’s growth proposal comes as the government considers extending the Udan scheme beyond 2027. IndiGo, the major operator of Udan flights, is considering placing another aircraft order. Fly 91, the newest regional airline, wants to expand its fleet to 32 planes in five years. On the other side, Alliance Air is struggling.
Alliance Air is the largest pure-play regional airline, with 21 aircraft. However, the government-owned airline is hampered by financial constraints and grounded planes. Alliance Air now operates just about 14 planes and has booked 26% fewer flights in the winter schedule than previous year. In contrast, Star Air plans to fly almost 45 percent more flights each week during the winter season.
The new E175s will enable Star Air to “operate more efficiently on existing and upcoming routes,” bolstering its capacity to provide improved connectivity across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Since its debut in 2019, Star Air has flown more over 13 lakh people to 22 destinations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
Cost-focused
“We are cost-conscious from the start. “We believe that slow and steady works for us,” stated Captain Simran S Tiwana, CEO of Star Air.
Around 65 percent of Star Air’s network consists of Udan routes. The airline is expanding its non-Udan routes and is considering operating from Jewar and Navi Mumbai airports. “We recently launched flights to Ahmedabad and Tirupati from Kolhapur,” Tiwana informed us.
One of the issues of the Udan plan has been the continuation of routes once government funding has ended. Airlines will get three years of viability gap funding (VGF) support for Udan routes. During this time, airlines have exclusive access to these routes. “Even after VGF support ended, Star Air continued to fly several of these flights commercially. Some of these routes, such as Belagavi-Ahmedabad and Bengaluru-Kalaburagi, are performing well, Tiwana remarked.
Star Air hopes to virtually treble its fleet in the next three years, with plans to add 16 aircraft to its fleet during this time. The airline intends to add six aircraft over the next 18 months, but has not disclosed any details about the aircraft’s induction in the months following.
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