Bird Group eyes regional flights

NEW DELHI: The government’s regional connectivity plan may not have had a flying start, but there seems to be no dearth of takers for it.

The Bird Group, which possesses a non-scheduled operator licence, is keen on becoming a regional carrier once again. The company wants to operate 30- to 50-seater aircraft between tier-II and tier-III cities that have air traffic but no connectivity.
Ankur Bhatia, executive director, told DNA Money that the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bird Air Services is evaluating the proposal to enter regional services.

“Earlier, we were thinking of connecting various smaller cities to Delhi but now we are looking at tier-II and tier-III cities. We are looking at the aircraft we could lease for this. Stability in crude prices will help us take a decision faster,” he said.

The group is also keen on starting a full-fledged charter service. It already offers consultancy and assistance to other charter operators on licensing, aircraft and pilots, among other things.

Bhatia said that though the group is keen on becoming a charter operator, infrastructural issues are playing spoilsport.

“There are no terminals meant for general aviation now. We are looking at how to do the charter business. Whatever we do will be purely demand-based,” he said.
The Bird Group has a joint venture with GDS player Amadeus for air ticket reservation, and another with Thailand-based Dusit Thani Group of Hotels. It is also into ground handling, airport check-ins and a training academy for the travel industry.