Even as large, established players try to ‘optimise’ their seat capacity on international routes, two start-up airlines are already setting their sights on bringing in fresh capacity and enhanced competition on the high-demand UK-India routes.

In the summer of 2022, two start-up airlines, both belonging to Indian-origin entrepreneurs, will fly from the United Kingdom to India.

Start-up carrier Hans Airways will take delivery of its first aircraft, an Airbus A330-200, believed to have been in Air Europa fleet since 2008. For Hans Airways, the aircraft will be reconfigured in a two-cabin layout, with 275 economy seats offering a 31-inch seat pitch, and 24 premium economy seats with a pitch of 56 inches.

Hans Airways plans to launch routes between the UK and India, operating flights from Birmingham to secondary Indian cities. The airline says that it has applied to the UK Civil Aviation Authority for its Air Operator’s Certificate and “is hopeful of obtaining the status in time to start revenue service this summer”. The carrier has already started training its first set to pilots and cabin crew in Crawley. “We are delighted to have achieved this very important milestone in our two-year journey. Our scheduled operations centre on the Airbus A330, a popular and spacious long-haul widebody, excellent for cargo too, and we are grateful to everyone who has helped us to ratify this agreement at the start of the new year,” says Hans Airways’ CEO Satnam Saini.

Hans Airways will join Flypop, owned by another Indian-origin businessman, Navdip Singh Judge. He also unveiled Flypop’s A330, with its distinctive livery of multi-coloured dots on the tailfin.