The Hindu Business Line : Go Air to have new core team by mid-February

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Bangalore Jan. 29 The Wadia Group is putting together a new core team to consolidate the operations of its airline venture, Go Air, even as its flexible fleet strategy has started paying off.

Go Air Managing Director, Mr Jeh Wadia, told Business Line that the core team will consist of Mr Mark Winders as Executive Director. Mr Winders was earlier the Chief Executive Officer of SpiceJet. The team will also have a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer and a Chief Operating Officer.

The core team will be in place by the middle of February. He said the core team's role will be to keep the costs down, aim at profitability and increase the load factor.

Flexible fleet pay-off

Mr Wadia said Go Air's strategy of adding more aircraft during the peak season and reducing the fleet size during the off-season has started paying off. "In some ways it is easier to defend lesser number of fortresses," he said. He pointed out that more aircraft would in fact lead to higher losses.

Go Air introduced the flexible fleet strategy a year ago, which has helped the airline keep losses under control. "We believe that until the industry turns around, it is the right strategy to adopt," Mr Wadia said.

Mr Wadia said the flexible fleet strategy has also allowed the airline to pull out of routes which are not profitable. "Our focus is to maximise the profits of our shareholders," he said.

Cost check

Emphasis of any operation should be profitability rather than market share and the size of the fleet, he said, and added that though the airlines do not have control over revenues as it largely depends on market dynamics, they should be able to keep cost per seat under check.

The airline currently has a fleet size of seven aircraft of which two will return in May. During June, another A 320 is expected to be inducted into the fleet. He said the airline industry faced a rather long lean season during the monsoon, though it recovered during December. "This fiscal we expect to reduce our losses substantially," he said.

Mr Wadia, however, did not specify the quantum of the losses or the revenues. He said talks between a few private investors and the airline, to pick up equity, was still going on. "It will take some more time for us to finalise the deal," he said.

The airline's average yield is currently at around Rs 2,800 while the break-even is at around Rs 3,200. The airline flies to 13 airports and operates 67 flights every day.