India to Have a New Domestic Carrier: Volk Airlines?

Tuesday, 24th April 2012 at 12:05pm

India is rumoured to be getting a new domestic airline, Volk Airlines. The reports of the new airline has been spreading fast although the official gatekeepers of India's airline industry, but neither the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) nor the Aviation Ministry have accepted any relevant applications.

Volk Airlines, which was said to be the first vegetarian airline in the world, has launched its website which states having a registered office located in Chennai, with corporate offices located in Bangalore. A message from an unnamed chairman says, "With a fleet of 12 aircraft, we currently cater to 15 destinations in India, and our network is rapidly expanding." Among the destinations specified on the website, Volk Airlines will be flying to several cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and Chennai.

Volk Airlines has a three-class seating arrangement just like Kingfisher Airlines. Per flight the airline will have a total of 164 seats, 8 business class seats, 12 economy plus seats and 144 economy seats. The airline is said to get 12 Airbus 320-200 planes for its operations. According to some sources the faces of the airline are Ashwin Rao, a former Indian Navy officer and wife Radhika Rao.

Airline industry workers have been talking about the new airline saying that the company has already started hiring people for its operations. The hiring for Volk Airlines' new crew was said to have been happening at a four-star hotel located in Andheri East, news which has made the ill-fated Kingfisher Airline crew hopeful.

News from the Mumbai Mirror however claimed that the interviews that have been going on at Kohinoor Continental Hotel was not for Volk Airlines but for a company that specializes in travel management and expenses, Zeta Travels, owned by the Maalini Global Group.

Another story has a source from the hotel where interviews where taking place said that Volk Airlines informed them of about 30 scheduled interviews. The source shared, "However, as the interviews progressed, the lobby was overflowing with candidates. We called the CEO of the company Radhika Rao, who told us that as the soon as word spread among Kingfisher employees, they started turning up in huge numbers."

An applicant who was from Kingfisher seemed to verify the source's statement when he said, "I came to know about this interview through some friends. No one I know got any written communication from the airline. When we went there, we were given a form to fill, asked a few basic questions, and told that the company will get back to us. Though we didn't know anything about the company, we wanted to check if there was a job opportunity." The applications for the new airline was said to have happened in Mumbai, conducted by Gaurav Pathak, a former employee of Kingfisher Airlines' HR department.

Radhika Rao, Volk's CEO shared that Volk Airlines is still "in the process" of being launched. "This includes identifying people for various openings, and completing paperwork for an airline license etc. We should be able to make a formal announcement in a month's time."

The news of the new airlines still however remained a mystery as Bharat Bhushan, DGCA chief said in Mumbai Mirror that, "No documents have been submitted as of now. I have no knowledge of this airline."

Another DGCA official stated, "While applying for a licence, the airline needs to submit documents to Ministry of Civil Aviation which, when convinced, gives a NoC. This NoC is then submitted to the DGCA, after which several rounds of meetings begin. The entire process takes eight to nine months at the very least. I don't know whether Aviation Ministry has received any application, but I doubt it, since no document has reached the DGCA so far."

By: Pete Lee.