The Times: Air Slovakia ... the Sikh airline
An East End tycoon has snapped up a carrier to provide bargain flights for Punjabis.
BRATISLAVA is an unlikely birthplace for the world’s first Punjabi airline, but it makes sense to Harjinder Singh Sidhu, the Sikh businessman who has quietly amassed a fortune in London’s East End.
This month, Sidhu, 56, took control of ailing Air Slovakia, and will inject $30m (£16m) into it over the next three years to buy aircraft, develop new routes and promote it as the flag carrier of the world’s widely travelled Sikhs and Punjabis. Why would they want to travel via Bratislava? “It is well connected to the rest of Europe by Ryanair and others, to Vienna, to Germany. Customers pay £20 for a ticket to Bratislava and then get a direct flight to Amritsar for £200-£300 return,” he said.
Sidhu argues that Britain’s 500,000 Sikhs and Punjabis will gladly make the detour to travel home via Slovakia if they can enjoy the comfort of Punjabi food, music and films and be served by Punjabi flight attendants. He is planning new flights to Delhi, Goa and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, new European destinations and a code-sharing deal with a leading Indian domestic airline.
Sidhu said his acquisition of Air Slovakia was a boyhood dream come true and highlighted how far he had risen since he arrived in London as a 16-year-old from Patiala in the Punjab. “As a kid I always dreamt of owning an airline. When that dream comes true, you don’t want to mess up the chance.”
He began as a cashier in a Russian-owned petrol station in Ilford and within nine months had started to buy out his bosses. “I built up to 35 stations and then sold some to Burmah and Shell. Now I’m in the wholesale petrol business,” he said. Sidhu invested his gains in aviation, travel and commercial property and has built up a portfolio of assets in Canada, America and India, as well as Britain, worth more than £40m.
Last December he was appointed general sales agent for Air Slovakia in Italy, India and Britain and within three months was effectively controlling the company. “In February they had a financial setback — one of their planes was hit by a bird and damaged. They didn’t have enough money to replace it. I injected $2m in February and got them out of the problem. In March, as a payback, they made me a financial director,” he said. Later he struck a deal to become the proud owner of a company with turnover of $30m.
“I won’t borrow money. I have enough to back my plans,” said Sidhu. “I should have gone on the rich list a long time ago, but I stopped it. I don’t want to say what I’m worth. I want to keep it under wraps and not have the taxman on me. My kids are good, intelligent kids. They are my wealth — in that sense I’m rich. God looks after me.”