Hans Airways, a new startup UK airline, plans to commence air operations from the UK to India beginning early 2022. The airline had previously announced to inaugurate its maiden flight in autumn 2021, which was delayed due to ongoing travel restrictions and approval process.
In August, Hans Airways announced a recruitment agreement with Swiss company Resource Group to hire captains, first officers, and training captains to fly a fleet of Airbus A330-200s for direct non-stop flights to India. Advancing to secure Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the airline will launch its operations in India once all regulatory requirements are complete.
Hans Airways serving secondary airports in India
As UK’s new startup Hans Airways is moving closer to launch, it intends to conduct UK-India operations using Airbus A330 aircraft to serve secondary airports on a low-cost model. Two-class configured A330 will likely have 208 economy class and 73 premium economy class seats.
The airline’s eyes direct service to underserved Indian routes, the low cost will be an inevitable key. The airline submitted the required operational manual to the UK Civil Aviation Authority for its operating license last year and had some regulatory hoops to navigate for gaining approval for documents. As the airline is looking forward to launching routes between the United Kingdom and the Indian sub-continent starting early 2022, the airline has made arrangements to get an operating and route license to serve India.
In June, Hans Airways appointed its initial board line-up having a combined airline management experience of over 130 years to deliver on the objective of building solid and robust foundations needed to succeed in the airline industry.
Other airlines operating UK-India routes
Air India started direct London-India operations in 2019 three times a week to chime in on the percentage of passengers seeking a direct connection between London Stansted Airport and Amritsar in India. The national carrier also announced to operate two weekly flights from Hyderabad to London with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in September this year.
Flypop, another new carrier of the UK, also targets the UK to India market with very similar operating models and target demographics. Flypop will be a competitor of Hans Airways as they both are recently operated and eye same similar routes.
India as an important sector
Hans Airways seeks to tap in demand from Indian diasporas living in the UK and across Europe who want regular flights to India. The origin of this carrier lies in the realization of the need for an airline to operate flights between secondary city pairs in the UK and India as its CEO Satnam Saini himself played an instrumental role in launching charter flights to one of these destinations with other carriers named Monarch Airlines and Jet Airlines.
The airline will target secondary cities of India to fly non-stop from either Birmingham or London. Hans Airways shows the zeal to cater to cities traditionally not served by major carriers. Regarding its business model, the airline will harness both the value for money (VFM) approach and the service quality approach to attract price-sensitive customers and ensure a seamless customer experience onboard.
A330-200 aircraft
Hans Airways operates a widebody fleet of Airbus A330-200 to operate long-haul flights. The aircraft has seven galleys, eight exits, and a total of 281 seats set out in a 2x4x2 configuration split into two classes-Economy class and Premium Economy.
Airbus A330-200 is a shortened, long-range aircraft variant with the most modern fourth-generation in-flight entertainment, providing a tailored experience that suits everyone from children to adults. It is a reliable aircraft with an in-service operational efficiency of 99.4% and can operate on routes up to 7250nm. It is equipped with revolutionary fly-by-wire digital controls to provide the ordered response.
The airline hasn’t revealed any airplane type to deploy for short-haul flights.
Probable hubs
Hans Airways has confirmed Birmingham and London as flight routes. Although the airline hasn’t confirmed its hub airport, given its UK background, it is most likely the base airport could be Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, or Birmingham.
Frequent flyer program of Hans Airways
Han’s Airways HAPEEI (Hans Airways Passenger Environment, Education Initiatives) in-house loyalty program allows the customers to offer charity for education to needy children for every mile that they fly with this airline in addition to regular, frequent flyer benefits.
