Hitting turbulence

New Delhi, Dec. 6: MDLR, the Delhi-based low-cost airline, has stopped operations until further notice after running up heavy losses in recent months.

The airline, which is owned by Gopal Goyal, who recently became a minister in the Haryana government, has hired Star Air — an aviation industry consultancy firm — to work out a revival plan.

With the help of Star Air, which is run by aviation industry veteran Harshvardhan, MDLR is hoping to get back into the air in another three or four weeks with a new flight plan that will take it to profitability or at least help it to trim its losses.

Several of the airline’s top managers, including the chief executive officer Koustav Dhar, have resigned in the wake of the shutdown over a month ago.

MDLR attempted to build a niche as a regional airline and it was flying to destinations such as Kullu, Chandigarh and Ranchi from Delhi. The airline advertised itself as the “world’s first vegetarian airline” when it commenced operations.

The airline has three Avro RJ70 70-seater aircraft that are on lease.

It might be tough to take the airline back in the air in the highly competitive climate where even the biggies in the industry are flying in the red.

Aviation industry experts say the company will need to “put resources on the table” before it can commence operations once again.

One advantage for MDLR is that it still has the necessary government approvals to get back into the skies.

MDLR (the expansion stands for Murli Dhar Lakh Ram) is a Haryana-based group with extensive interests in real estate. Its main shareholder, Gopal Goyal, was one of the six independents who joined the Hooda government and were immediately made ministers.

MDLR is also planning to make a debut in the hospitality industry and is putting up three hotels on the outskirts of Delhi.

Goyal started out as a small businessman and has scripted a rags-to-riches story. He was initially considered close to Haryana politician Om Prakash Chautala but has moved away from his mentor in recent times.

Though the MDLR group has some highly successful businesses, it has not been able to turn a profit in the sky and mounting losses in recent months finally forced it to bring down its jets.