"A separate cabin for servants"

An Indian royal is banking on his heritage to fill seats in his latest
venture -- a luxury domestic airline that will even have a separate cabin for
servants.

...

"We're targeting the type or person who drives in a Mercedes," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Mysore.

The bulk of the seats will essentially be what other airlines sell as first class -- seats will be 54 inches (137 centimeters) wide, about triple the standard 18-inch (46-centimeter) economy seat, he said, adding that fares will be competitive for their class.

There will, however, be an economy cabin of between 8 and 15 seats "for servants," Wodeyar said.

"There are people who many want to travel with one or two servants," he explained. "But they don't have to fly in the same cabin."

Um, 'servants'?

A luxury airline is not new, but the incumbents have catered more for a slightly elevated class, rather than the royalty targeted by the Maharaja's 'Palace in the Sky'. I wonder which routes he'll start with, given he will have to comply with the DGCA's route dispersal guidelines.. I can't imagine too many royalty (or people of their 'class') wishing to fly to Gauhati or Imphal.

And what's this business of 'servants'? Hello, what century are you living in O exalted Maharaja?

Getting down to numbers,

... he said the startup cost should be about US$100 million (euro81.46 million) and that initially the airline will have only two planes. The fleet should grow to 21 jets within the first 18 months of operation, he said, adding that the airline would eventually fly to more than three dozen cities.

$100 million for 2 aircraft? Something's not right. Considering Air Deccan secured $40 million in their second round of funding (and they're not doing too badly either) I struggle to comprehend where he got that figure from. Even considering that the cabin interior will not be as spartan as that of an Air Deccan, it still seems a touch too much. Perhaps he's just making a show by flashing some insane sum around. Memories of IndiGo...

And even if it's $100m, where's he going to get that money from? Our man is worth Rs 1522 cr, or about $340 million, but my guess is very little of that is liquid (10%?), and the rest is valuation of his properties and other assets.

Bottomline, he has some money to launch an airline in my opinion (but not $100m), he has grand plans, which will need a big dose of reality over the next few days and weeks. And he needs some good airline advisors (and not whom he's talking to now). And he will probably need to look for some aircraft soon.

- posted by katongking @ 1:15 pm