Air Dravida
Encyclopedia
Air Dravida airline
project based in Chennai
, India
, which intended to offer scheduled flights within southern India using a fleet of CRJ200 Bombardier CRJ-200.
, Zircon International and other investors, but never completed its establishing process and was shut down again in the same year.Air Dravida division of Premier Tours And Travels (Chennai) Ltd was founded in the year 1982 as a partnership firm in the year 1982 as a non IATA approved Travel Agency at Chennai and even in the beginning had a sizeable market share. During the end of 1985, the current CEO joined them as their General Manager and made rapid changes including applying for IATA’s approval. As an Applicant for IATA’s accreditation itself it was one among the two top selling agents in the geography and it received IATA Accreditation as a Passenger Sales Agent in the first quarter of 1986.
During the year 1994, the management changed hands and the company was made into a Private Limited Company in 1996 and a Limited Company in the year 2011. Between the year 1985-2005 the company was one among the top 5 agents in the Region and has won several awards from reputed international airlines such as Air India, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airlines etc for excellent sales support. The company has also been offering other travel products such as Group Inclusive Tours, Business Travel, Leisure Travel, sale of domestic and international airlines’ tickets, money changing facility, travel insurance, Passport/Visa assistance and consultancy, hotel bookings, surface arrangements and much more or all of the services that a quality, first grade travel agent would offer.
The period from 2004 onwards witnessed drastic, dynamic and unforeseen changes in the market conditions and the role of a retail travel agent. At the same time, the company also planned to start an airline division under the style Air Dravida and started making necessary preparations. With all such happenings, the company decided to down play the role as a retail travel agent, re-engineer the business process and business strategy to meet current and future challenges and merge it with the launching of air services since the business process of both divisions have synergy. This will also enable the company to expand its travel network to major cities in south India. Air Dravida has been granted with the Initial NOC for operation of Non-Scheduled Air Transport Services and the “Approval in Principal” for import of five nos CRJ-200 Series type aircraft on lease and the Initial Grant of NOC for Operation of Scheduled Regional Air Transport Services in South India is in the final stages of processing. The company is now in preparedness for launching the operations during the festive months in the 3rd/04th quarter of 2011 and it has already ready with lease negotiations for aircraft, fuel supply agreement with Hindustan Petroleum, Passenger Services System with the world leader SITA, arrangements for IATA two letter code and membership and several others including shortlisting of hand picked professionals with high qualifications and wide experiences in managing the various divisions. A new batch of young, qualified and industry trained people have been already recruited and the Travel Division would be fully operational at Chennai from the first week of August 2011 to be followed very soon by its branch locations at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai and other cities.
Besides Accreditation by IATA, the company has been appointed as a Passenger Sales Agent by several international and domestic airlines and the company is an active member of Travel Agents Association of India, Travel Agents’ Federation of India and has the approval to process passports at the Regional Passport Office, Chennai from the Ministry of External Affairs. Several consulates in the city have permitted the processing of visas through the company.
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
project based in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, which intended to offer scheduled flights within southern India using a fleet of CRJ200 Bombardier CRJ-200.
History
The airline was formally launched in November 2005 and was owned by Tamil MuslimTamil Muslim
Tamil Muslim refers to those Muslims who have Tamil as their mother tongue. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia which is 2.6% of the total population of Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore.Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers...
, Zircon International and other investors, but never completed its establishing process and was shut down again in the same year.Air Dravida division of Premier Tours And Travels (Chennai) Ltd was founded in the year 1982 as a partnership firm in the year 1982 as a non IATA approved Travel Agency at Chennai and even in the beginning had a sizeable market share. During the end of 1985, the current CEO joined them as their General Manager and made rapid changes including applying for IATA’s approval. As an Applicant for IATA’s accreditation itself it was one among the two top selling agents in the geography and it received IATA Accreditation as a Passenger Sales Agent in the first quarter of 1986.
During the year 1994, the management changed hands and the company was made into a Private Limited Company in 1996 and a Limited Company in the year 2011. Between the year 1985-2005 the company was one among the top 5 agents in the Region and has won several awards from reputed international airlines such as Air India, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airlines etc for excellent sales support. The company has also been offering other travel products such as Group Inclusive Tours, Business Travel, Leisure Travel, sale of domestic and international airlines’ tickets, money changing facility, travel insurance, Passport/Visa assistance and consultancy, hotel bookings, surface arrangements and much more or all of the services that a quality, first grade travel agent would offer.
The period from 2004 onwards witnessed drastic, dynamic and unforeseen changes in the market conditions and the role of a retail travel agent. At the same time, the company also planned to start an airline division under the style Air Dravida and started making necessary preparations. With all such happenings, the company decided to down play the role as a retail travel agent, re-engineer the business process and business strategy to meet current and future challenges and merge it with the launching of air services since the business process of both divisions have synergy. This will also enable the company to expand its travel network to major cities in south India. Air Dravida has been granted with the Initial NOC for operation of Non-Scheduled Air Transport Services and the “Approval in Principal” for import of five nos CRJ-200 Series type aircraft on lease and the Initial Grant of NOC for Operation of Scheduled Regional Air Transport Services in South India is in the final stages of processing. The company is now in preparedness for launching the operations during the festive months in the 3rd/04th quarter of 2011 and it has already ready with lease negotiations for aircraft, fuel supply agreement with Hindustan Petroleum, Passenger Services System with the world leader SITA, arrangements for IATA two letter code and membership and several others including shortlisting of hand picked professionals with high qualifications and wide experiences in managing the various divisions. A new batch of young, qualified and industry trained people have been already recruited and the Travel Division would be fully operational at Chennai from the first week of August 2011 to be followed very soon by its branch locations at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai and other cities.
Besides Accreditation by IATA, the company has been appointed as a Passenger Sales Agent by several international and domestic airlines and the company is an active member of Travel Agents Association of India, Travel Agents’ Federation of India and has the approval to process passports at the Regional Passport Office, Chennai from the Ministry of External Affairs. Several consulates in the city have permitted the processing of visas through the company.