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Chennai, Nov. 12 Paramount today launched its daily flights to Pune. The flight departs Chennai at 8.40 pm and reaches Pune at 10.10 pm. It leaves Pune at 10.35 pm and reaches Chennai and five minutes past midnight.

Paramount has also scheduled flights from Coimbatore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai to Chennai so as to connect passengers to the Pune flight.

Asked how Paramount Airways felt the heat of the economic slowdown, the Managing Director, Mr M. Thiagarajan, said that airline saw no decline in its loads.

He said the airline was profitable as it never under-priced its tickets.

“If you are a low-cost carrier, you price your ticket low to attract passengers who usually go by trains. When the fares rise, these passengers go back to the trains. We have never targeted this segment. We target the premium segment where passengers are willing to pay a higher price for a better service. These passengers will always travel by air and hence there is no fall in our loads,” Mr Thiagarajan explained.

The airline, being closely held, does not give out its financial results.

Mr Thiagarajan said the fact that the airline had taken delivery of two aircraft (recently) when many other airlines are shrinking their fleet strength, is an evidence that Paramount is doing well. Today, Paramount has seven aircraft—all Embraers.

Last month, it launched its first flight into western India — Chennai to Ahmedabad — and followed it up with another flight from Chennai to Goa. Loads on both these routes, according to him, are in the upwards of 85 per cent.

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