TruJet (TRJ, Hyderabad International) plans to take delivery of five ATR72s by November this year, doubling its fleet to ten of the ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops, before the addition of a further five to eight of the type in 2020-21. Then, having consolidated its position, the regional carrier will also consider plans to undertake an Initial Public Offering (IPO) "in the coming two to three years, once we reach a reasonable size", director K V Pradeep told a news conference on July 12.

With up to eighteen aircraft, the regional airline expects to consolidate its position as a strong player in the niche segment connecting tier-two and tier-three cities across India.

Even though TruJet posted a loss of INR840 million rupees (USD12.3 million) for its 2017-18 financial year on revenues of INR1.65 billion (USD24 million), CFO K G Vishwanath said it anticipated a 50% growth in revenue for FY2019 and the same again for FY2020, propelling it into a net profit, and then a further 70-80% revenue growth for FY2021.

The two executives said that TruJet was looking at northeastern India as a significant growth area. Five additional aircraft would enable it to commence services to a number of new destinations over the coming 12 to 18 months, including launching Guwahati in Assam as its third base after Hyderabad International and Ahmedabad and starting flights from there to Tezu, Rupsi, and Cooch Behar.

TruJet is also considering connecting Hyderabad to Belgaum, Bangalore International to Tirupati, Jalgaon to both Mumbai International and Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad to both Vishakhapatnam and Nagpur, they added.

Pradeep said that as it was preparing to expand, the LCC had already recruited about one hundred former Jet Airways personnel, expanding its workforce to approximately seven hundred.

TruJet currently operates three ATR72-500s and two ATR72-600s.