India’s Air Costa had to suspend all operations in 2017 due to financial difficulties with aircraft leasing companies.
Air Costa was a regional airline operating in India. The airline’s headquarters were in Vijayawada in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which is located in southeastern India.
In addition to its hub at Vijayawada Airport (VGA), the airline also operates a hub at Chennai International Airport (MAA). Commencing operations in 2013, Air Costa flew commercially for more than 3 years until 2017. Unfortunately, the airline declared that they would suspend operations due to financial difficulties which have made leasing aircraft almost possible.
An Indian company, the Lingamanemi Estates Private Limited (LEPL) Group, decided to find an airline in 2012 to fly regional services within India. The state of Andhra Pradesh was the tenth-largest state and had 50 million inhabitants, but lacked regional air services. The LEPL Group, therefore, founded Air Costa to fill this void in the market.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation
The company 1st received permission from the government when it received a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India in February 2012. Then, the airline welcomed the final go-ahead from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) when Air Costa was given an Air Operators’ Permit (AOP) in September 2013.
At the time of the airline’s founding, there were plans to operate 2 main hubs, Chennai (MAA) and at Hyderabad (HYD). In addition, Air Costa was preparing to fly to larger cities such as Bangalore (BLR), Ahmedabad (AMD), and Jaipur (JAI), as well as smaller (only by comparison) cities like Madurai (IMX) and Thiruvananthapuram (TRV)
The airline started services in October 2013 as a regional airline. It initially operated 2 Embraer E-170 aircraft from its hub at Chennai, with its 1st flight bound for Jaipur on October 16th, 2013. In addition to connecting major cities in India, Air Costa was committed to flying between tier II and tier III cities to improve connectivity outside of major metropolitan areas.
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Following the success of its first months of operations, Air Costa bought 50 Embraer E-Jets E2 at the Singapore Airshow on February 13th, 2014. The 50-aircraft order was reportedly worth a staggering $2.94 billion. Embraer decided to cancel the 50-aircraft order in 2018 after the airline suspended operations.
Air Costa announced
Air Costa, in September 2015, decided to apply for a national airline license. Its initial AOP, which was granted in 2013, only permitted the airline to fly within a specific region. Becoming a national airline would enable Air Costa to add more destinations and offer more routes to passengers.
Air Costa received its NOC for upgrading the license to a national airline on December 19th, 2015. The airline planned to rise the number of aircraft in its fleet as a result of an expected growth in the number of routes and destinations served. In late 2015, Air Costa planned to acquire an additional three to five E-190 aircraft in 2016.
Air Costa declared that it had suspended all operations on February 17th, 2017. This was due to financial problems with the aircraft leasing company GECAS, which had been unresolved.
As a result, the aircraft which Air Costa had leased from different leasing companies was returned, and the airline could no longer operate services.
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