Paramount Airlines

[chornedsnorkack]

They are supposed to open today, 7th of September.

What is the service like and how are the interiors of their planes?

[Left Wing]

Where did they the pilots from?

[rsoman]

Paramount operations have been pushed back to Sep 24. But now it looks definite they are going ahead. THere was a road show in TRV today.

Initial schedules are for a one a/c operation

CJB-DEL/DEL-COK-DEL.DEL-CJB and a late evening CJB-MAA-CJB operation.

As per their website they are havibg 4 cabib crew on the 68 seater a/c (ERJ 170) and have also tied up for distribution with Amadeus. Also ground time in this initial schedule is not more than 35 min at any station between flights (higly optimistic in stations like COK where AI is the solo ground handler).

They aim to be "airline offering business class service at economy air fares). Wonder how they are going to keep the cost down with all these frill thrown in !

Pilots are provided by Embraer as part of the deal (they dont have a presence here till now unlike ATR or Bombardier).

[chornedsnorkack]

Have they started now?

[rsoman]

They have is what I was informed when I tried their tol lfree number.

CJB DEL and COK DEL are up soon to be followed by CJB MAA.

Incidentally Kingfisher is starting COK DEL via BLR with the same starting fare in another three days.

So some stiff competition on the cards for the newcomer since Deccan is starting an evening MAA CJB frequecy to take on Paramounts proposed service as well.

By the way on the topic - the Ground handling at COK which was earlier done by Air India for all airlines is now I understand been taken over by the airport company (which incidentally is not the Airports Authority of India whos is the operator of virtually all other airports in India).

This I guess is why all the entrants are in a rush to start up at COK.

Paramount is on from today. KF is starting from 28th of this month (both a COK BOM flight as well as a COK BLR DEL flight) and Air Deccan is starting both COK MAA and COK BLR from Spetember 27th.

Expect to see some low low fares esp in COK BLR .

COK BLR - 03 Oct Air Deccan - Rs 2300 + (High cost prices for Inflight F&B).

COK-BLR - KF - Rs 2720 (with free F&B)

WIth the current schedules and frequency they have (double daily) Jet may not lower fares except may be for their BLR COK morning flight, but the obe who is going to get hit is Indian Airlines - now when are they going to slash their fares?


Interesting times ahead.

[masalama]

rsoman...namaskaram....:D
any news on kerala airways and their intended date of starting ops....it 'd be a good idea considering the problems faced by expat malayalees....
was at cok recently and have to admit ....airport looks nice and construction work going on for expansion....
keep ur informed posts coming ....have a nice day.
masalama.

[Hairy Chest]

where are the pilots & ops personnel comming from, at this rate the Indian airforce will be undermanned!

[haree]

Hi all

Actually they have some 4-5 indian pilots till date on their pay roll.. All P2s and .. All P1s are borrowed from Brazil ( i guess they're from embraer)

These guys have a very shady bond system so no pilots want to join them. I heard even Flight attendants are not ready because of their contract system. Anyways time will teach them to suside to the demand and cut down the requirements.

I heard new pilots must pay them a sum of 21 lakhs .. that is about $45000 for the TR that is done in Swiss and execute a bond of 5 years or so. When Air Deccan and Kingfisher is hiring like crazy with lower amounts for bigger aircrafts who would come here!?

Anyways ERJ 170 is a sexy little beast!

Haree
Indianaviators.com

[Hairy Chest]

Its the same shady story with Indus Airways. What makes these guys charge so much for a TR while bigger player are attracting all good talent.

[rsoman]

May b something called "Protecting your investment?

[rsoman]

Update
Finally these guys have started ops yesterday. DEL CJB and DEL COK to start with. As per media reports the DEL COK had 3 pax and the return 25 pax although being an inaugral flight, how many were giveaways - I dont know.

[BlueEagle]

Nothing special there then rsoman , it would take at least a year for people to change their travel habits, let's see what the numbers are this time next year?:ok:

[chornedsnorkack]

I wonder how the 3 passengers were cared for by the 4 flight attendants... There might be perks of buying tickets to flights that are two-thirds empty!

[rsoman]

oops
There was a typo - for which my apologies- It was 35 and not 3. Return of course was 25 (or so says the local daily),

Anyway wishing the brave chaps at Paramount the very best -for starting a non stop service for the first time on the COK DEL route. Let us hope the gamble pays off.

Only problem is that there are no less than 4 other players offering same plane one stop service on the route. IC and Jet via Mumbai, Sahara via Hyderabad and KF via Bangalore. So we can see some lowering of fares.

[haree]

Hi

Paramount (I 7) has already started services with their sole aircraft.

P'mount makes 2 CJB-MAA trips daily , one early in the morning and another later in the evening..

After the morning CJB-MAA trip , they turn around for a CJB-COK-DEL-COK-CJB trip after which they make another CJB-MAA trip

They're trying hard to get slots in places Bangalore, Madurai?! , Mumbai Hyderabad ?and Trivandrum

I7 is planning to induct their 2nd ERJ170 by the end of 2005 and 1 more in 1Q of 2006

Regards
Haree
Indianaviators.com

[rsoman]

They're trying hard to get slots in places Bangalore, Madurai?! , Mumbai Hyderabad ?and Trivandrum

************

Slots in Trivandrum and of all places Madurai difficult to come by???

Bangalore, Mumbai and esp Hyderabad are difficult but the other two..........!!!!