The Hindu Business Line : Paramount gets first Embraer

As the deep blue, misty white-coloured Embraer-170 jet made a soft landing at the city's Peelamedu airport at 3.30 p.m., the claps from the motley crowd of Paramount's staff and well-wishers led by the company's top brass, including Mr M. Thiagarajan, Managing Director of the airline, reached a crescendo.

The water jets from the Airport Authority of India's fire service squad gave a ceremonial spray, drenching all the sides of the new aircraft, which was piloted by Embraer's crew. The 29-hour journey included stop-overs at Cyprus and Muscat.

Expectations are high not only for the Paramount Airways' top brass, but also for the Coimbatore AAI, which will see the number of airlines operating through the airport rising to five with the launch of Paramount's service.

Paramount has scheduled to put the new aircraft on its maiden service on the Coimbatore-Delhi-Kochi-Delhi-Coimbatore sector. The airline said that though it would offer a low-cost service, it has chosen to position itself as a premium service airline.

Mr Thiagarajan, told presspersons that the plan is to connect the secondary cities and the tier-II cities with the metros and tap the business class travellers wanting a value-for-the-money service.

Paramount's services will be 60 per cent lower than other airlines' business class services and 20 per cent lower than the other economy class services.

It is looking at extending its service to cities such as Pune, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur. Within Tamil Nadu, it is considering an air link with Tiruchi.

Paramount, which is to procure five more Embraer jets of 170/175 over the next eight to nine months, is looking at a per day passenger volume of 250-300. It hopes to build this up to 1,000-1,500 within the next eight months. Its maiden flight is set to be inaugurated on September 23 from Madurai, and the formal commercial service will be launched the following day from Coimbatore.

The Coimbatore-Delhi-Kochi-Delhi-Coimbatore service would give `value for money,' as passengers starting off from Coimbatore to Delhi could plan their journey back home the same day and thus avoid staying in Delhi, said Mr Thiagarajan.

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