The group has chalked out plans to extend the Go brand. The idea is to leverage the low cost of engineering services in India by setting up an engineering facility under Go Engineering. After the restructuring, the Wadia family has created a common holding company, Go Holdings. A cargo airline is also being planned with the ‘Go’ brand. The MRO joint venture will service both widebody and narrowbody aircraft. Mr Wadia said that the group is also talking to ST Engineering, Lufthansa and Air France.

"We don’t know who our partner will be at this point in time,” he said, adding that an independent MRO venture was a viable business proposition as cost-conscious carriers were likely to outsource such functions. The Wadia group has also announced that future group investments will be made primarily in new economy sectors like aviation, real estate and retail. The group wants to cash in by outsourcing and tapping the huge manpower potential. The group has so far been involved in textiles, chemicals, food, plantations, health care and education.

The Hindu Business Line, Bureau, Mumbai: The Wadia group, promoters of the low-cost airline GoAir, is looking at other areas of investment in the aviation industry, including a cargo airline. Mr Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir, told a press conference on Tuesday that the group hoped to take a decision in a month or two on the cargo airline, likely to be named GoCargo. The group would also look at other areas for investment in the aviation industry, including starting an institute to train technical staff.

Not under GoAir banner: He said that the proposed cargo airline and the other investments would be separate investments and would not come under the GoAir banner. Mr Wadia said there was tremendous scope for a cargo airline in the country and the group planned to tap this potential. Likewise, he anticipated an increase in demand for technical personnel and pilots following the huge growth in the air passenger traffic.

Official carrier: He said GoAir was the official carrier for the India-England one-day international cricket series starting on April 1, for which it had signed an agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It would operate special flights to Delhi, Goa, Kochi, Guwahati, Ranchi, Indore and Mumbai - all venues for the matches - carrying players of both the teams, national and international media persons. It would also auction a few seats on each flight to the Indian public.

The Asian Age, Correspondent, Mumbai: The Wadia Group which operates the air carrier GoAir is planning to launch Go Cargo and Go Engineering in the coming months. These will be a separate entity from GoAir. The carrier also plans to start its Chennai-Delhi-Chennai flight from April to augment its existing Chennai-BangaloreHyderabad flight, Jeh Wadia, managing director told reporters here on Monday. The airline proposed to increase the flights from Delhi and Kolkata in the coming months.

GoAir has recently tied up with the Board of Control for Cricket for operating special flights to Delhi, Goa, Cochin, Guwahati, Ranchi, Indore and Mumbai as the official carrier of the Indo-England ODI cricket series. Mr Wadia said a few tickets would be auctioned to the public. Mr Wadia said GoAir will have five more aircraft in operation by the year-end and their target number is 33 by the end of 2008.

The Asian Age , Agencies, Mumbai: The BCCI has announced that the Jeh Wadia promoted GoAir will be the official carrier for the upcoming India-England ODI series.

Hindustan Times , Correspondent, Mumbai: BCCI has announced that the Jeh Wadia promoted GoAir will be the official carrier of the teams for the upcoming India- England one-day international cricket(ODI) series from April 1-16, 2006.

Business Standard, Bureau, Mumbai: The Wadia Group-promoted low-cost airline GoAir will start direct Srinagar-Mumbai flight from April 6. The no-frill carrier has also tied up with tour operator company Raja Rani Travels to promote the sector.

The competition though, is in place. Taking on its rivals in the low-cost market, GoAir announced the launch of a customer awareness scheme, which claims that the airline offers the lowest air fares possible. The scheme—to be launched on March 9— challenges passengers to get an air fare lower than the one offered by GoAir. However the catch is that, the scheme would be applicable only for flights that leave 45 minutes before or after a GoAir flight.

The Asian Age, Correspondent, Mumbai: The Wadia family-promoted budget carrier GoAir on Tuesday announced a new campaign aimed at reducing consumer ticket transaction time and increasing passenger load. The campaign called, ‘The GoAir Challenge’, states that should customers find an airline ticket lower than the price of a GoAir ticket, the airline would reimburse double the difference between the fares and credit the cost of cancellation towards the purchase of GoAir tickets.

The airline currently operates three A320s with a single class and is planning on inducting 20 Airbus A320 family aircrafts in the next two years. They also plan on expanding their fleet to 33 aircrafts by December 2008 and add five more aircrafts to their fleet by the end of the year. From April 3, 2006 the airline will operate in 14 cities including Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu with a total of 28 daily flights. "Plans on GoCargo and GoEngineeering will be announced in the next one month," added Mr Wadia.

When asked how he could afford the difference between the prices coupled with the increase in cost of jet fuel, Mr Wadia stated that the company had "a deep war chest and that they were looking at a 68 per cent load factor." He also added that the new campaign was aimed at jet aircrafts only since most competing airlines operated them on routes common to GoAir.

The Asian Age, Mumbai: “The GoAir challenge offer applies to tickets available to general public and not through special schemes. This move will ensure value for money and simplifies shopping for our airline tickets.”- Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir.

Today, it launched a new campaign that challenges customers to find a better fare than that offered by Go Air on a particular sector. If the customer is able to find such a fare on a flight that takes off within 45 minutes of the Go Air flight, the airline will offer the passenger an amount that is double the difference in the price between the two. The traveller can use this amount to book on Go Air and the airline will reimburse the cancellation charges for its booking on the other airline.

The Free Press Journal, Bureau, Mumbai: Go Air, Wadia Group company, launched in November last year with 3 A-320 aircraft, will continue its expansion through an acquisition of an additional 33 A-320 family aircraft, reports UNI. The fleet acquisition is spaced over three year span, funded through five different baskets of investments, GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia told, reporters here today. Elaborating on its plans, Mr Wadia said one is to go for dry lease for short, term, other baskets envisage acquisition of new aircrafts on bom short term as well as long term basis.

Hindustan Times, Correspondent, Mumbai: The Summer holiday season is expected to see airfares staying down thanks to the prevalent mood among airlines to play the low fare-high volumes game, especially with GoAir announcing a new campaign called ‘The GoAir Challenge’ aimed at increasing its load factor. “If the price paid for the ticket bought on a competing airline is lower than the price paid for GoAir, we will adjust double the difference between the fares which can be used to purchase GoAir tickets.

The Hindu Business Line, Bureau, Mumbai: GoAir, which recently announced the acquisition of 20 Airbus aircraft, is considering various options including private equity to finance the purchase. Mr Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir, said, "We have been receiving a number of enquiries from private investors, but have not yet made a final decision on the way to go." Mr Wadia was speaking at the launch of the airline's low-fares challenge that promises to reimburse passengers, who book cheaper tickets on competition, twice the difference between the fare quoted by competitors and that available on GoAir.

It also commits to foot customers' cancellation charges. The low-fares challenge, which commences on March 9, is restricted to routes operated by a jet aircraft and for flights that take off soon after or before a GoAir flight on a given sector. According to Mr Wadia, the challenge aimed to simplify the decision making process for customers, currently requiring to choose between various schemes such as the check fares and dyna fares offered by airlines.

GoAir, promoted by the Wadia family, operates with three leased aircraft. It plans to have a fleet of eight aircraft by the year-end, and 33 by end-2008. The airline will expand its route network from April with the launch of flights on the Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Srinagar, Srinagar-Jammu, and Chennai-Delhi sectors, taking the number of daily flights to 28.

Load factor on the airline is currently at 68-70 per cent, Mr Wadia said. He added that the airline was in talks with a number of other low-cost carriers such as Air Deccan, Kingfisher, and Indigo to create an association, to air the industry's needs, share engineering and technical services, transfer passengers on each other's flights in case of cancellations, and share Government infrastructure where required.