India's first all veg airline takes off

New Delhi, May 4: The Gurgaon-based MDLR Airlines India's first all vegetarian carrier has started commercial operations with flights on the Delhi-Chandigarh route.

The airline is using 70- and 100-seater Avro RJ aircraft dry-leased from British Aerospace. With fares starting from Rs 1,000, it plans to extend its sevices to Ranchi and Kolkata in the next 15 to 20 days and later to Mumbai, Surat, Jaipur and Bhavnagar.

''We'll operate a full-service regional operator business model and gear up to add fleet of three to four jets by calendar year-end,'' said airline's chairman Gopal Goyal.

"We'll serve elaborate all vegetarian cuisine." Starting as a full-service carrier, MDLR is setting up offices in all its destinations and plans to make Chandigarh as one of the large regional jet hub after Delhi and Jaipur in north India. By next year, it plans to have 12 planes through internal accruals.

Mr Goyal said MDLR is offering dynamic pricing of eight fare levels which are 10 to 12 per cent lower than those prevailing in the market. The operator is also negotiating for two Kazan MI-172 helicopters each with 27 seats.

The new airline with a paid up capital of Rs 40 crore is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MDLR Group which has business interests in infrastructure, shopping malls, multiplexes ad luxury hotels.

UNI