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Air Costa

Air Costa was an Indian regional airline headquartered in Vijayawada and based out of Chennai International Airport. It was owned by Indian business company LEPL Group. The airline commenced operations as a regional airline in October 2013 using two Embraer E-170 aircraft, with the first flight taking off from Chennai on 16 October 2013. The airline received a permit for pan-India operations in October 2016. The airline focused on connectivity between tier II and tier III cities in the country, and invested ₹600 crore (US$72 million) as of 2015. Air Costa operated 32 daily flights to nine destinations from its focus cities Chennai and Vijayawada as of 2015. The airline had a maintenance center in Chennai.[5] On 28 February 2017, it suspended operations until further notice.[3]

Air Costa
IATA ICAO Call sign
LB[1] LEP[1] LECOSTA[2]
Commenced operations15 October 2013
Ceased operations28 February 2017[3]
Operating basesChennai International Airport
Fleet size0
Destinations0
Parent companyLEPL Group
HeadquartersVijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India
Key people
  • Ramesh Lingamaneni Chairman
  • LVS Rajasekhar MD
  • Vivek Choudhary CEO
Employees800[4]
Websiteaircosta.in (now defunct)

History

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Air Costa was owned by Indian business company LEPL Group.[5] The airline received a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in February 2012.[6] The airline initially planned to start operations with a fleet of Q400 aircraft but later announced its decision to acquire Embraer Jets at the Paris Air Show in June 2013.[7] Air Costa received its Air Operators' Permit (AOP) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in September 2013.[8]

The airline commenced operations as a regional airline in October 2013 using two Embraer E-170 aircraft with the first flight taking off from its hub at Chennai on 16 October 2013.[9][10][11][12] The airline focused on connectivity between tier II and tier III cities in the country and has invested ₹600 crore (US$72 million) as of 2015.[5]

Air Costa ordered 50 Embraer E-Jets E2 aircraft worth US$2.94 billion during the Singapore Airshow on 13 February 2014.[4][13] Embraer has cancelled the order. The airline would have become the Asian launch customer for the type if it would have taken the first delivery in 2018 as planned.[14]

In September 2015, Air Costa, which held a regional airline's license, applied to the aviation regulator DGCA for its license to be upgraded to that of a national airline.[15] Air Costa received a no-objection certificate from the civil aviation ministry for pan-India operations on 19 December 2015.[16][17][18][19] Two Embraer E-190s were added by September 2015.[20] Air Costa added one more E-190 in December 2015 and had plans to add three to five E-190 aircraft in its fleet in 2016.[21] The airline had a 0.8% market share in the Indian domestic airline market as of February 2016.

On 28 February 2017, Air Costa suspended operations until further notice stating financial difficulties regarding the lease of aircraft.[3] GECAS seized two of the airline's leased aircraft, while a third had already been returned to the lessor.[22]

Destinations

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A former Air Costa Embraer 170

Air Costa was flying to the following destinations in India at the time it suspended operations:[3]

State City Airport Notes
Andhra Pradesh Tirupati Tirupati Airport Terminated
Andhra Pradesh Vijayawada Vijayawada Airport Hub
Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam Airport Terminated
Gujarat Ahmedabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Terminated
Karnataka Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport Terminated
Rajasthan Jaipur Jaipur International Airport Terminated
Tamil Nadu Chennai Chennai International Airport Terminated
Tamil Nadu Coimbatore Coimbatore International Airport Terminated
Telangana Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Terminated

Fleet

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Air Costa Embraer 190

Prior to suspending operations in February 2017, the Air Costa fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[23]

Air Costa fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
J Y Total
Embraer 190 3[24] 1[23] 0 112 112 Order cancelled by GECAS[23]
Embraer 190-E2 — 25 6 92 98 Supposed to be the Asian launch customer[13]
Embraer 195-E2 — 25 12 106 118 Supposed to be the Asian launch customer[13]
Total 0[25] 51

References

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  1. ^ a b "Air Costa". ch-aviation. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  2. ^ "JO 7340.2G Contractions" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 5 January 2017. p. 3-1-61. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "India's Air Costa suspends operations". ch-aviation.com. 28 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b Rathor, Swati (25 March 2015). "Air Costa to add 2 E-190s in 2015". Times of India. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "LEPL to invest Rs 600 cr in Air Costa". Business Standard. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Air Costa to be launched soon". The Hindu. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  7. ^ "India's Air Costa Acquires three E-Jets". Embraer (Press release). June 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Air Costa gets DGCA permit". Business Standard. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Air Costa takes off to connect towns". Deccan Chronicle. 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Air Costa takes off from Chennai today". The Hindu. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  11. ^ "First Air Costa flight flagged off by Kiran". New Indian Express. 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Air Costa, India's newest airline, takes flight today". Business Today. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  13. ^ a b c "India's Air Costa places a firm order for 50 E-Jets E2s". Embraer (Press release). Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Embraer clinches bln India deal with Air Costa". Reuters. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. ^ "Regional airlines now pitch for a national licence". The Economic Times. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  16. ^ Narasimhan, TE (25 December 2015). "Air Costa gets aviation ministry approval for pan-India operations". Business Standard. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  17. ^ Sanjai, PR (19 December 2015). "Air Costa secures NoC for pan-India flights". Live Mint. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  18. ^ "India's domestic passenger demand up 25 percent: IATA". Business Standard. 6 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  19. ^ "Air Costa receives a no-objection certificate". The Economic Times. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Air Costa to add 2 E-190s in 2015". The Times of India. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  21. ^ "Air Costa plans to raise funds through stake sale; to add three more Embraer aircraft". The Economic Times. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  22. ^ "Grounding instead of expansion to 100 aircraft". aerotelegraph.com. 3 March 2017.
  23. ^ a b c planespotters.net - Air Costa Fleet Details and History retrieved 1 March 2017
  24. ^ "DGCA deregisters 2 aircraft of Air Costa". Times of India. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  25. ^ "DGCA deregisters 2 aircraft of Air Costa". Times of India. 24 March 2017.
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