AFP
India's newest airline announced Monday flights could begin as early as October, saying it was "bullish" about the future even as a rival carrier reported a big loss.
The new airline, to be called Vistara -- a Sanskrit word meaning "limitless expanse" -- is 49 percent-owned by Singapore Airlines, while the Mumbai-based Tata conglomerate controls 51 percent.
The airline will offer both business and economy class, new chief executive Phee Teik Yeoh told reporters in New Delhi, and hoped to start flying passengers "sometime in October", subject to approval by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The previous Congress government began allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 49 percent stakes in Indian carriers in 2012.
India's air passenger market has expanded at breakneck speed but many companies are laden with debts and beset by cut-throat fare wars, high fuel costs and shoddy infrastructure.