Malindo Air in final lap of getting approval from Indian authority

Malaysian hybrid airline, Malindo Air, is in the final stage of getting approval from the Indian authority to start operating flights to the country. Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said among the destinations the airline was looking at are Delhi, Bombay and Kochi. "We are still waiting for the approval and we expect to know the outcome in the next one or two months," he told reporters after the official opening of its airport ticketing office at Senai International Airport here today. Currently, the airline flies to 12 destinations of which 11 are domestic routes and one international route. "We will start our international inaugural flight to Dhaka next Wednesday. "By October, we expect to introduce another international destination," he added. Chandran said by the end of this year, Malindo Air would have 20 routes of which 60 per cent will be domestic destination. On the company's expansion plan, he said the airline will be receiving two new ATR72-600 aircraft next month and will be introducing new routes as well. The company also aims to fly 1.5 million passengers by year-end from about 300,000 passengers volume currently. "Next year, our target is to have three million passengers volume and we believe we can achieve it as we will have additional 10 aircraft next month," he added. Meanwhile, Chandran said the airline would be opening more airport ticketing offices in stages to the destinations it flies as it now has the size and scale as well as the routes to expand its reach.