Paramount, Embraer plan MRO facility
Close on the heels of ordering 40 Embraer aircraft for a list price of $2 billion, Chennai-based Paramount Airways is now looking at setting up maintenance, repairs, overhaul (MRO) and pilot training facilities in the country in association with B...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of ordering 40 Embraer aircraft for a list price of $2 billion, Chennai-based Paramount Airways is now looking at setting up maintenance, repairs, overhaul (MRO) and pilot training facilities in the country in association with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer.
According to Paramount Airways managing director M Thiagarajan, talks in this regard are on with the Brazilian company and a decision in this regard is expected over the next couple of months. Paramount is looking at a pan-India presence by 2011 with a fleet size of 55-60 aircraft.
After capturing a 26% market share in south, Paramount is in the process of entering the western market over the next one year. It has chalked out plans to enter markets in north, east and Northeast over the next couple of years.
Mr Thiagarajan said as the business plan of the group, it would look for acquisitions in each region to ramp up its operations. “Otherwise, we will simply go ahead and start our operations in that market on our own,” he added. He said the group is open to both organic and inorganic routes for ramping up operations. The expansion plans would be financed through borrowings from financial institutions and the group’s internal resources.
Commenting on the recent spate of mergers in the aviation industry space, he said this would be good for the airlines as this will help to weed out non-competitive pricing strategies followed by some players. “Even if the industry is dominated by three or four players, yields of smaller players would also improve,” he added.
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Mr Thiagarajan said unlike others Paramount followed a niche full-service value carrier model. “Our average yields even in the short haul routes are one of the highest in the industry, pegged at around Rs 4,000 per passenger,” he added. “Paramount has consciously not gone for market share but focused on yields, and our operations have already broken even,” he said. As per latest DGCA estimates, Paramount’s market share stood at 1.1%.
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