Patel Air
21st In A Series: A Fictional Airline of India
Patel Aviation Private Limited, d/b/a Patel Air, is an Indian low-cost airline based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The company’s headquarters are located at the World Trade Center Bangalore, in the Malleshwaram district of Bangalore. The carrier’s primary hub is located at Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) in Devanahalli, Karnataka, India.
Founded in 2005, Patel Air is one of the three largest airlines in India, and also among the largest air carriers in both Asia and the world, carrying over 100 million passengers per year and operating over 2,000 flights per day as of 2023. The carrier currently serves 66 cities across Asia and the Middle East, including 58 domestic and 8 international destinations, from its seven hub airports within India:
Ahmedabad-AMD
Bangalore-BLR
Chennai-MAA
Delhi-DEL
Hyderabad-HYD
Kolkata-CCU
Mumbai-BOM
Patel Air also operates smaller operating bases located at Goa-GOI, and Nagpur-NAG.
History
2005: Startup
Patel Air was founded as a private company in early 2005 by tech billionaire Ravi Patel (b 1960). Mr Patel was a Bangalore-born software coder when he arrived in America’s Silicon Valley in the early 1980s. He became a serial entrepreneur who started several successful companies in California before returning to India in 2004.
Flush with cash from his many California ventures, Mr Patel decided to start several new businesses in India. Most of these new startups were high tech oriented, but during his time in Silicon Valley, Mr Patel had also befriended Mark Calabrese, CEO of the very popular American West Coast airline CalJet. After extended discussions with Mr Calabrese, Mr Patel decided to seed a new airline of his own in India following a low cost business model similar to the one used by CalJet.
Accordingly, at the recommendation of Mr Calabrese, Mr Patel recruited Dinesh “Dennis” Bahri (b 1961), an Indian-American airline executive born and raised in New York City, to start up this new airline.
Mr Bahri had been working as CCO (chief commercial officer) for the popular eastern US low cost carrier People Express under Erik Neumann, a renowned airline executive who specialized in revitalizing airlines in decline. Mr Neumann left People Express to take over control of the major US carrier Meridian Airlines, while Mr Bahri was narrowly passed over as a CEO candidate for People Express. When approached, Mr Bahri expressed genuine interest at Mr Patel’s plan to start up a new airline in India from scratch, and accepted a very generous offer to run it.
Mr Bahri arrived in Bangalore to set up the new airline, provisionally named Patel Airlines. The carrier was set up as a single class, low cost carrier (LCC) headquartered at Bangalore-BLR, exclusively flying one aircraft type: the Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which were configured to seat 180 passengers in a single economy class cabin. Mr Bahri selected the Indian Peafowl, India’s national bird, to serve as the airline’s tail logo, and at Mr Patel’s request the carrier chose the color green to be featured in its livery scheme.
Mr Bahri initiated a strong multimedia advertising campaign featuring Divya Sehgal - a one-time flight attendant for rival carrier Modi Air and a rising young Bollywood actress known for her roles in several successful romantic and occasional comedy movies - to serve as the airline’s spokesperson. Ms Sehgal’s appeal - and perhaps her familiarity with airliner cabins - proved invaluable to Patel Air’s marketing plans, and she became the voice and face of the emerging new carrier for the next 10 years.
2005-2015
After shortening the carrier’s official brand name to Patel Air, the airline began revenue operations on 23 September 2005, initially serving the following cities from its Bangalore-BLR base:
Ahmedabad-AMD
Delhi-DEL
Goa-GOI
Hyderabad-HYD
Jaipur-JAI
Kolkata-CCU
Lucknow-LKO
Mumbai-BOM
Nagpur-NAG
Varanasi-VNS
Visakhapatnam-VTZ
In 2008 Patel Air opened up a 2nd hub at Hyderabad-HYD, at which point the airline was flying to 20 cities within India.
In 2010, having officially completed 5 years of stable operations, Patel Air was granted permission by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s national civil aviation authority) to launch its first international routes. The first foreign destinations selected were Bangalore-BLR «» Dubai-DXB, Bangalore-BLR «» Singapore-SIN, Mumbai-BOM «» Dubai-DXB, Mumbai-BOM «» Singapore-SIN, Hyderabad-HYD «» Dubai-DXB, and Hyderabad-HYD «» Singapore-SIN.
By 2011 Patel Air was serving over 40 cities within India, and expanded operations further by opening a 3rd hub at Mumbai-BOM.
By 2013 Patel Air became the 3rd largest airline in India, after Modi Air and Bharat Airlines.
In 2014 Patel Air opened its 4th hub at Delhi-DEL, following a bitter legal battle with Bharat Airlines. The company also added Doha-DOH and Male-MLE as international destinations during that year.
In 2015, the actress Divya Sehgal, having since become a top-flight A-List figure in both Bollywood and Hollywood, formally ended her contractual relationship with Patel Air. Interestingly, in the West Ms Sehgal is better known as a leading character in the internationally popular Starfighters sci-fi film franchise, while in India she is still most widely associated with Patel Air’s public image due to clever marketing during the airline’s first 10 years of existence.
2016-2020
In 2016 Patel Air took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo, the new generation version of the Airbus A320-200. Later the same year, Patel Air became a publicly traded company (NSE ticker symbol PATAIR; also on BSE in India).
In 2017, Patel Air bought out legacy carrier Calcutta Air, and took over its hub at Kolkata-CCU. Patel Air also opened new international routes to Colombo-CMB, Kathmandu-KTM and Bangkok-BKK from several hubs.
In March 2018 Patel Air received its first Airbus A321neo. The carrier’s first longer range subvariant Airbus A321LR arrived a few months later in December 2018. Like the company’s A320 aircraft, the A321s were all configured with single-class cabins, each seating 222 passengers. International service to Abu Dhabi-AUH was also added during the same year.
In 2019 Patel Air opened two more new hubs, at Ahmedabad-AMD and Chennai-MAA, and became one of the largest airlines in Asia, and was listed on the NYSE (Ticker symbol PATA). International service to Kuala Lumpur-KUL in Malaysia and Jaffna-JAF in Sri Lanka were also added.
2020s
During the early part of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Patel Air began to convert several of its older Airbus A320-200 aircraft into Airbus A320P2F Freighters, which were used to move cargo instead of passengers. This move helped Patel Air to overcome most of its losses taken in passenger revenue as a result of the pandemic, while creating a whole new revenue stream for the airline.
Some international routes unfortunately were never restarted after the pandemic receded, most notably air service to Abu Dhabi-AUH and Jaffna-JAF.
In 2022 Patel Air opened its two newest operating bases at Nagpur-NAG and Goa-GOI, both of which are emerging as important components of the Patel Air route ecosystem.
By 2023, all of the carrier’s former Airbus A320-200s had been successfully converted into Airbus A320P2F Freighters, allowing the company to continue using them for many years to come while gaining significant inroads into the domestic and international air cargo markets.
Today and the Future
Having endured several quarters of losses during the Covid 19 pandemic, Patel Air has since returned to profitability, and is currently working diligently to resume expansion of its route and flight schedule footprint, both domestically and internationally.
On the domestic front, Nagpur-NAG is being expanded into a full hub, while a new operating base at Kochi-COK is in the process of being created. Patel Air is also opening a full operating base at Goa-GOX, to better serve the state of Goa and overcome space limitations at Goa-GOI.
Meanwhile, Patel Air has placed orders to lease Airbus A321XLR aircraft that are due to begin joining the fleet in late 2024 and/or early 2025. The A321XLRs will begin flying new routes to intercontinental destinations in Europe and Africa, among them Cape Town-CPT, Amsterdam-AMS, Paris-CDG and Frankfurt-FRA. Perth-PER has also been cited as a potential future A321XLR destination, along with new routes connecting to Mauritius-MRU and Denpasar-DPS. Returning service to Abu Dhabi-AUH and Jaffna-JAF are also in the cards, and there is also talk of expanding into eastern Asia later in 2025 or in 2026.
While the A320neos and A321neos will continue to be configured with single class cabins, the new A321XLRs will be configured with two cabins: Core Economy, which will function the same as the single-class cabins on the A320neo fleet; and Prime Economy, a new premium economy style cabin with better seating, seat pitches and amenities.
Perhaps most significantly, Patel Air are in negotiations to lease new Airbus A350-900 widebody aircraft, which would be set to open more distant intercontinental routes to far flung destinations such as New York-JFK, Los Angeles-LAX, San Francisco-SFO, Toronto-YYZ, Vancouver-YVR, Sydney-SYD, and London-LHR. Mumbai-BOM and Delhi-DEL are likely to receive either daily or 5x weekly A350 service to those destinations. Bangalore-BLR and possibly Hyderabad-HYD and/or Chennai-MAA would likely offer 2x to 3x weekly A350 service to high-tech business centers such as San Francisco-SFO and perhaps Seattle-SEA.
Unlike Patel Air’s standard single class A32x class aircraft configurations, the A350 cabins are expected be configured as dual or even three class, offering a business class cabin as well as premium class seats. Further details are to be announced once the lease agreement has been signed on.
Lastly, company CEO Dinesh “Dennis” Bahri is retiring soon; now a billionaire, he reportedly plans to retire to his hometown of New York. Mr Patel has selected as his replacement the company’s COO, Iraj Adani (b 1966 in Mumbai), to succeed Mr Bahri at Patel Air. Mr Patel himself has not set forth any plans for himself regarding retirement.
Destinations
Following is a list of destinations that are currently served by Patel Air. All destinations are located in India except where otherwise noted.
Agartala-IXA
Agra-AGR
Ahmedabad-AMD - Hub [ Map Link ]
Amritsar-ATQ
Aurangabad-IXU
Bangalore-BLR - HQ and Main Hub [ Map Link ]
Bangkok-BKK, Thailand
Bareilly-VIBY
Belgaum-IXG
Bhopal-BHO
Bhubaneswar-BBI
Chandigarh-IXC
Chennai-MAA - Hub [ Map Link ]
Coimbatore-CJB
Colombo-CMB, Sri Lanka
Dehradun-DED
Delhi-DEL - Hub [ Map Link ]
Doha-DOH, Qatar
Dibrugarh-DIB
Dubai-DXB, United Arab Emirates
Durgapur-RDP
Goa-GOI - Operating Base [ Map Link ]
Gorakhpur-GOP
Guwahati-GAU
Hubli-HBX
Hyderabad-HYD - Hub [ Map Link ]
Imphal-IMF
Indore-IDR
Jaipur-JAI
Jodhpur-JDH
Kadapa-CDP
Kanpur-KNU
Kathmandu-KTM, Nepal
Kochi-COK
Kolhapur-KLH
Kolkata-CCU - Hub [ Map Link ]
Kozhikode-CCJ
Kuala Lumpur-KUL, Malaysia
Lucknow-LKO
Madurai-IXM
Malé-MLE, Maldives
Mangalore-IXE
Mumbai-BOM - Hub [ Map Link ]
Nagpur-NAG - Operating Base [ Map Link ]
Patna-PAT
Port Blair-IXZ
Prayagraj-IXD
Pune-PNQ
Puducherry-PNY
Raipur-RPR
Rajahmundry-RJA
Rajkot-RAJ
Ranchi-IXR
Siliguri-IXB
Singapore-SIN, Singapore
Srinagar-SXR
Surat-STV
Tiruchirappalli-TRZ
Tirupati-TIR
Thoothukudi-TCR
Thiruvananthapuram-TRV
Udaipur-UDR
Vadodara-BDQ
Varanasi-VNS
Vijayawada-VGA
Visakhapatnam-VTZ
Former Destinations
Following is a list of destinations that were previously served by Patel Air.
Abu Dhabi-AUH, United Arab Emirates
Jaffna-JAF, Sri Lanka
Future Destinations
Following is a list of prospective or likely future destinations that have been announced by Patel Air.
NB: [*] indicates destination is speculative but not yet confirmed
Abu Dhabi-AUH, United Arab Emirates
Amsterdam-AMS, The Netherlands
Cape Town-CPT, South Africa
Denpasar-DPS, Indonesia [*]
Frankfurt-FRA, Germany
Jaffna-JAF, Sri Lanka
London-LHR, UK
Los Angeles-LAX, USA
Mauritius-MRU, Mauritius [*]
New York-JFK, USA
Paris-CDG, France
Perth-PER, Australia [*]
San Francisco-SFO, USA
Seattle-SEA, USA [*]
Sydney-SYD, Australia
Toronto-YYZ, Canada
Vancouver-YVR, Canada
Fleet
Current Fleet
Following is a list of aircraft types currently used by Patel Air.
Airbus A320P2F
(Former Patel Air A320-200s since converted into freighters)
Former Fleet
Following is a list of aircraft types formerly used by Patel Air.
Airbus A320-200
(All have since been converted into A320P2F Freighters and remain in service as such)
Future Fleet
Patel Air has placed firm orders to acquire the following aircraft in the near future.
=Nota Bene=
All aircraft templates featured in this particular article were adapted from Norebbo under license, because Norebbo is awesome.
I named the carrier Patel Air simply because Patel is said to be the most common surname in India. It’s not literally based on any one India-based carrier, although perhaps the Indian airline IndiGo is a source of inspiration.
Neither Ravi Patel nor Dinesh Bahri are based on anyone I’ve ever heard of in real life. They were simply randomly generated. I wrote up Ravi Patel to be Desi (meaning India-born and raised) while Dinesh Bahri was written up to be Indian-American (born in New York to expat Indian parents). Again, for no particular reason other than storytelling.
Same thing with the actress/spokeswoman Divya Sehgal, she was randomly generated as well. Having said that, the Starfighters movie franchise reference is a salute to the late Indian actress Persis Khambatta, who appeared in the first Star Trek movie in 1979 as the shaved-headed Ilia from the planet Delta IV. Note that she did this way back in 1979 - she’s the first female actor I know of who voluntarily shaved their head smooth for a role. She predates others like Sigourney Weaver in Alien 3 (1992) for example. Sadly, Ms Khambatta passed away too soon, in 1998.
I’ve been meaning to get around to writing an article for an India-based airline for some time, because India has been and continues to be a major growth market for the airline industry. India was overdue to get an article, so here it is. I had templates and outlines drawn up for 3 India-based airlines, but Patel Air happened to be entirely done so I decided to go with it first.
The other two Indian airlines I name in the story, Modi Air and Bharat Airlines, will eventually get their own articles in the course of things. Who knows, maybe the fictionally defunct Calcutta Air will get its own article as well? Both Bharat and Calcutta Air would get lots of vintage aircraft types, at least 2-3 of which I’ll have to create from scratch. So Modi Air might come sooner, because it’s a younger carrier like Patel Air.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
All aircraft templates shown in this article are licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.