Air Costa was an Indian

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

headquartered in

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

and based out of

Chennai International Airport Chennai International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu and its metropolitan area. It is located in Tirusulam, southwest of the city centre. Chennai International Airport is the sixth busiest air ...

. 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 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding ...

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 as of 2015. Air Costa operated 32 daily flights to nine destinations from its focus cities Chennai and

as of 2015. The airline had a maintenance center in Chennai. On 28 February 2017, it suspended operations until further notice.

History

Air Costa was owned by Indian business company LEPL Group. The airline received a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in February 2012. The airline initially planned to start operations with a fleet of

Q400 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

aircraft but later announced its decision to acquire Embraer Jets at the

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...

in June 2013. Air Costa received its Air Operators' Permit (AOP) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in September 2013. The airline commenced operations as a

in October 2013 using two

aircraft with the first flight taking off from its hub at

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 16 October 2013. The airline focused on connectivity between tier II and tier III cities in the country and has invested as of 2015. Air Costa ordered 50 Embraer E-Jets E2 aircraft worth during the

Singapore Airshow The Singapore Airshow is a biennial aerospace event held in Singapore, debuted in 2008. It hosts high-level government and military delegations, as well as senior corporate executives around the world, while serving as a global event for leadin ...

on 13 February 2014. 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. 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. Air Costa received a no-objection certificate from the civil aviation ministry for pan-India operations on 19 December 2015. Two Embraer E-190s were added by September 2015. 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. 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.

GECAS GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services) was an Irish–American commercial aviation financing and leasing company. AerCap acquired the company from GE Capital on November 1, 2021. GECAS was the largest commercial airline leasing/financing company in ...

seized two of the airline's leased aircraft, while a third had already been returned to the lessor.

Destinations

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

Fleet

Prior to suspending operations in February 2017, the Air Costa fleet consisted of the following aircraft:planespotters.net - Air Costa Fleet Details and History
retrieved 1 March 2017

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of India Defunct airlines of India Airlines established in 2013 Airlines disestablished in 2017 Defunct low-cost airlines Indian companies disestablished in 2017 Indian companies established in 2013 2013 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Companies based in Vijayawada