Diamond companies collaborate for airline service in Surat

Four diamond companies in Surat have joined heads for a project to connect Surat with other smaller cities of the state of Gujarat, through an airline service. This initiative is conceived by Govind Dholakia of SRK Exports, Lavji Badshah of Avadh-Anjani Group, Lalji Patel of Dharmanand Diamonds and Savji Dholakia of Hari Krishna Exports, as per reports. Its purpose is to enable businessmen who need to frequent Surat, to conveniently be able to do so.

The project has taken off with three aircrafts already being bought, including two nine-seater planes and one four-seater plane, entailing an initial investment of about Rs. 30 crore, reports say. The entire project is conceived to entail investment between Rs.30-40 lacs. The route of two aircrafts has been pre-determined within Gujarat, while the smaller aircraft will be availed for a chartered service or for air-ambulance purpose. The four companies have acquired a license from the Bhopal-based Ventura Airline, to operate their own airline, reports add.

To begin with, the service will commence during Diwali and will concentrate within Gujarat state, and later the routes would be considered outside Gujarat, reports add.