LONDON – Hans Airways appears to be in some form of a financial quagmire as they get into such troubles before they are due to launch later this year.
It is understood that the airline is currently seeking additional investment after some money was pulled out from the airline.
Spokespeople at the carrier are trying to calm nerves, as seen in a statement sent to UK Aviation News:
“Hans Airways is committed to launching long haul, affordable commercial air services between the UK and India.”
“It is working on a restructuring in order to progress that goal, including advancing talks with new parties to secure additional investment to meet AOC requirements. Launching an airline is a long journey, and some turbulence is inevitable.”
AviationSource has approached CEO Satnam Saini directly, and at the time of publication, he has left our messages on read.
Investor Talks Failing?
According to sources, the CEO Satnam Saini is currently in India trying to hold a roundtable to secure additional investment for the carrier.
The roundtable from last week was postponed until Monday, which ended up not happening either, showing that such talks have broken down.
This does suggest the idea that things may not be going in the direction Saini is wanting, which could put the fate of the airline into disrepute before they officially launch services.
Hans is set to launch its first route between Birmingham and Amritsar, with one Airbus A330 leased and ready to go.
Lack of Confidence in the Airline?
There could be dwindling confidence in the Birmingham-Amritsar rotation doing well for the carrier, especially with major competitor Air India already operating this route.
Such a route is already well-established by the Indian flag carrier, so pricing wouldn’t necessarily be a concern, as Hans is planning to start services using a hybrid model of LCC pricing and full service onboard.
With that in mind, there could be an element of rare confidence in the carrier, hence why Saini has had to go to India to continue talks with investors.
Back in January, AviationSource interviewed Saini, and he insisted that Hans Airways is an airline of substance compared to his competitor of, flyPOP.
“We don’t compete; we create. You look at the market, we do what we set out to do, and we don’t compete with them. They compete with us. On publicity and everything. Whatever we say has some substance behind this”, Saini said back in January.
With that specific quote in mind, the current environment for Hans Airways doesn’t appear to be one of substance, especially after the continuous delays in the launch process.
Overall…
It remains clear that something is going on over at the headquarters of Hans Airways. It’s going to be interesting to see whether Satnam can pull it off and get the investment needed to get this over the line.
If they can get the talks on investment back to a positive angle, then we could very well see the start of their flights happening by the end of the year or into the early start of 2023.
But for now, they cannot delay any further. It’s all or nothing.
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