Durgapur/New Delhi, Feb 12: A new domestic airline is taking shape. Zoom Air is set to … well zoom this month.

Taking wings, Zoom Air today flew its inaugural flight from the national capital and will start commercial operations from February 15.

The CRJ 200 LR plane landed at the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, Durgapur, at 1339 hours, where it was accorded the traditional water canon salute, says PTI.

[Er …What’s that?

A water salute occurs for ceremonial purposes when a vehicle travels under plumes of water expelled by one or more fire fighting vehicles.

At an airport, typically an even number of vehicles will line up perpendicular on the sides of the taxiway or apron, and the plumes of water will form a series of arches. Water salutes have been used to mark the retirement of a senior pilot, air traffic controller, the first or last flight of an airline to an airport, the first or last flight of a type of aircraft, or for other notable events. When the Concorde flew its last flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport, blue, white and red coloured plumes were used. President Donald Trump of the United States received a water salute on his first departure from LaGuardia after winning the presidential election in 2016.]

Zoom Air has became the 12th operational domestic carrier. The airline would start commercial services from February 15 with a flight to Durgapur via Kolkata from New Delhi.

Promoted by Zexus Air Services, the carrier would also operate flights to Amritsar, Surat and Bhavnagar from Delhi in the first phase of its operations with a fleet of three dry- leased CRJ 200LR planes.

Zoom Air’s entry is expected to intensify competition in the domestic aviation market, which is seeing over 20 per cent growth over the last two years.

“We envisage a 18-20 per cent year on growth on such underserved and un-served airports and we have seen such massive air traffic growth in stations like Vijaywada, Tirupati, Ranchi and Chandigarh. Its all about connectivity and regular reliable services,” Zoom Air Director and Chief Executive Officer Koustav Mohan Dhar said.

Around Rs 20 crore has been already invested in the carrier, he said, adding that the airline plans to raise Rs 20-25 crore in 3-6 months, preferably through equity funding.

The funds would be utilised in fleet expansion, Dhar said.

Zoom Air plans to expand route network to destinations such as Tirupati, Vijaywada, Mumbai, Shillong, Aizawl, Pasighat and Zero (in Arunachal Pradesh), Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Indore and Bhopal, with a likely daily operations.

Two similar CRJ-200LR aircraft from Skyone FZE Aircraft leasing, UAE, under dry lease would join the fleet by April.

This would take the total planes to five, a condition required under DGCA norms.

Zoom Air received scheduled operator permit from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) earlier this month and allows it to operate pan India.

Zexus Air Services Pvt Ltd (Zoom Air) is a professional airline group, as per the company.

Currently, Air Costa, TrueJet, Alliance Air and Air Carnival are the operational regional carriers while Air Pegasus is grounded.

Air India, Jet Airways, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia India are the other domestic airlines.

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