Mumbai January 31, 2008: GoAir, India’s smart fare airline, has appointed Mr Edgardo Badiali as the Chief Executive Officer.  He will report to Mr Jeh Wadia.

Commenting on the CEO appointment, Mr Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “We are happy to welcome Edgardo at GoAir. Edgardo Badiali brings with him over 15 years of senior level European and Indian commercial aviation experience. His immense understanding and expertise in the aviation industry will add great value to the day to day operations as well as the growth strategy charted for GoAir.”

Mr Badiali is a senior aviation professional with over 15 years of senior management experience and 27 years of experience in the aviation sector. Before joining GoAir, he was the CEO of Italian low cost airline MyAir. Mr Badiali is also the co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA).  He has also held various senior positions in leading airlines including Swiss Air and  Jet Airways. 

Mr Badiali’s appointment at the helm of GoAir comes at a time when the airline is on a major expansion plan. GoAir recorded a whopping 73 per cent growth in passenger traffic during the nine-months’ ended of the current fiscal. The airline has crossed the milestone of flying over 3 million passengers.  The massive growth in traffic is also complemented by remarkable performance in load factors. During the nine months period, GoAir’s load factors averaged to 83 per cent. The airline has been consistently recording highest load factors since March 2007. GoAir’s overall market share has risen to 5 per cent. With the onset of the tourist season in India, GoAir is poised to maintain this growth trend in passenger traffic,  load factors and market share in the future as well.

As part of its next financial year’s operational strategy, GoAir is considering network expansion with addition of new airports. The East region will be a major area of expansion. In October 2007, GoAir started taking deliveries of our US$ 1.2 billion order. It had placed an order for 20 aircraft with Airbus in July 2006. As of end of 2007, GoAir has already received two aircraft deliveries from the total order placed. The 2008 deliveries will be aligned to its expansion plans. GoAir is focusing on consolidating its position in the domestic market for the near future.

Mumbai, 10 January, 2008: GoAir, India’s smart fare airline, recorded a whopping 73 per cent growth in passenger traffic during the nine-months’ ended of the current fiscal. The airline carried over a million passengers during the last 9 months. The massive growth in traffic immediately follows the flight operations expansion programme concluded by GoAir last November. As part of this flight operations expansion programme, GoAir doubled its weekly flight operations to 561 commercial flights.

During the nine months period, GoAir’s load factors averaged to 83 per cent. It has been consistently recording highest load factors since the last one year. GoAir’s overall market share has risen to nearly 5 per cent. With the onset of the tourist season in India, GoAir is poised to maintain this growth trend in passenger traffic, load factors and market share in the last quarter as well.

GoAir’s phenomenal growth comes at a time when the Indian tourism industry is experiencing turbulent times on account general global recession, uncertainty in the political scenario and cheaper options available in the Far Eastern destinations.

According to Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir, “The enormous growth consistently recorded by GoAir over the last few quarters reflects the faith of our passengers in the brand. Despite the challenging tourism environment in India, GoAir managed to maintain its leadership stance by recording such high load factors. Moreover, our market share is on an upswing as compared to our market share during the previous season. We also enjoy the highest market share per aircraft in the industry.”