Actor Ram Charan's Latest Release: New Airline TruJet
Telugu actor Ram Charan says TruJet - the latest entrant in the aviation sector and an airline he is promoting - will be truly low-cost and focused on the southern states.
The Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways this week became the fourth company in the last two years to receive a flying licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation regulator.
"As you are shocked why a film actor is getting into a business like this, I was pretty shocked when an offer like this came up," said the 30-year-old Ram Charan. The popular actor is also the son of former union minister and superstar Chiranjeevi.
"I don't look at as business. It is just an investment for me," he said, promising, "A lot of people say that they are low cost but they are actually not...We are true to our initial statement which is low cost. Our routes are southern. We are focusing basically on southern states." (Watch)
This month, Ram Charan said, TruJet starts flights in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana - Hyderabad-Rajahmundry and Hyderabad-Tirupati, identified as the most used sector by flyers. After this, he said, flights would be introduced to Chennai and Bengaluru.
Turbo Megha's managing director, V Umesh had said earlier this week that the new carrier has already acquired two 72-seater ATR-72 planes and would induct three more by January next year.
The company has seen an initial investment of $20 million, or nearly Rs 127 crore ($1 = Rs 63.40).
Ram Charan said he has realistic expectations and expects organic growth. "We are not very fancy. We don't have unreasonable and unreasonable targets."
"The aircraft we have chosen have never failed in the past, economically and in terms of numbers. The business model, the ticket pricing, on everything we are going organically. We will grow looking at the numbers for how the business is growing. That is how we will expand," the actor added.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.