Fly91 is a Goa-based Indian regional airline, operated by Just UDO Aviation Private Limited, flying ATR 72-600 turboprops to tier-2 and tier-3 destinations.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Fly91 does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Fly91 in Brief

• What it is: Fly91 is an Indian Regional airline company based in Goa.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Operates short-haul regional flights of 45 to 90 minutes from Goa, Hyderabad and other bases
• Flies a single fleet type, the 72-seat ATR 72-600; six aircraft by March 2026
• Serves destinations such as Goa, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Agatti and Jalgaon
• Funding: About Rs 250 crore raised to date per company; initial commitment was Rs 200 crore.

Fly91 Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Fly91?

Fly91 operates in the Regional airline space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Fly91.

• Operates short-haul regional flights of 45 to 90 minutes from Goa, Hyderabad and other bases
• Flies a single fleet type, the 72-seat ATR 72-600; six aircraft by March 2026
• Serves destinations such as Goa, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Agatti and Jalgaon
• Flies some routes under the government's UDAN regional connectivity scheme and has expanded into non-UDAN routes from Hyderabad
• Operates as a digital-native airline without a traditional call centre

The Origin Story of Fly91

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Harsha Raghavan, Manoj Chacko.
• Harsha Raghavan, managing partner at Convergent Finance and former head of Fairfax's India investments, is chairman and founder
• Manoj Chacko, a former Kingfisher Airlines, Emirates and SOTC executive, is MD and CEO
• Announced in January 2023 with a plan to begin operations in 2023; Goa chosen as base
• Reports differ on the HQ: Goa in most sources, Mumbai in one database

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Regional airline sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• Jan 2023: Airline announced with initial Rs 200 crore equity from Convergent and affiliated funds
• Mar 2024: Commercial operations began with two ATR 72-600s
• First year: over 3,500 flights and nearly 1.7 lakh passengers carried
• Nov 2025: Fleet of four ATR 72-600s serving eight destinations, over 120 weekly flights
• Jan to Mar 2026: Three aircraft added, taking the fleet to six
• Apr 2026: Five new sectors launched including Hyderabad to Rajahmundry and Vijayawada, putting Fly91 in direct competition with IndiGo

Fly91 Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• Jan 2023: initial equity of Rs 200 crore (about $24 million) from Convergent Finance and funds it advises
• Later: about Rs 250 crore raised in total, mostly via convertible preference shares since converted to equity
• Recent: Rs 63 crore tranche concluded within a planned Rs 150 crore raise from existing and new investors (one report)
• Cap table data from one tracker shows Infinity Direct Holdings with the largest stake at 33.9% as of May 2024

How Does Fly91 Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Regional last-mile connectivity on tier-2 and tier-3 routes using one aircraft type to keep costs low
• Revenue from ticket sales and ancillaries; part of its flights are supported by UDAN subsidies (14 of 40 daily flights at one point)
• CEO says routes are meant to sustain operations after subsidy periods end
• Won a single-year Viability Gap Funding from Maharashtra for Mumbai-Sindhudurg flights

The Numbers: Fly91 Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY24: revenue Rs 3.7 crore (Inc42 data)
• FY25: revenue Rs 137.2 crore per one tracker and Rs 127.4 crore per another (reports differ); net loss Rs 67.6 crore with operating expenses of Rs 202.2 crore (one report)
• Target: operating break-even in the coming fiscal year (per one report)

Market Opportunity for Fly91

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• India's regional aviation segment is supported by the UDAN scheme
• Hyderabad-based expansion brings competition from IndiGo and Air India Express on routes like Hyderabad-Vijayawada

Technology and Product at Fly91

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Digital-native operations with online-first booking and no call centre
• Single-type ATR 72-600 fleet simplifies maintenance and crew training

Team and Culture at Fly91

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Harsha Raghavan: chairman, managing partner of Convergent Finance
• Manoj Chacko: founder, MD and CEO, with about three decades in airline and travel industries
• Headcount reported between 154 and 252 depending on source

Fly91 Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Fly91

• Significant losses and dependence on continued fundraising
• Expansion adds cost pressure; crude prices and Middle East conflict flagged as demand risks
• Direct competition with IndiGo on newer non-UDAN routes
• Reliance on subsidy-supported routes
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Fly91 Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Targets a 30-aircraft fleet within five years across multiple bases
• Aims for operating break-even in the upcoming fiscal year
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Fly91 can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Fly91 Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Fly91

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Fly91.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Fly91

Studying a company in the Regional airline space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Fly91.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Fly91 as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Fly91 name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Fly91 is part of India’s growing Regional airline ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Fly91 FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fly91?

Fly91 is a Goa-based Indian regional airline, operated by Just UDO Aviation Private Limited, flying ATR 72-600 turboprops to tier-2 and tier-3 destinations. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Fly91?

Fly91 was founded by Harsha Raghavan, Manoj Chacko, and the company reports a founding year of 2023.

How much funding has Fly91 raised?

About Rs 250 crore raised to date per company; initial commitment was Rs 200 crore. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Fly91 make money?

Fly91 earns revenue from its Regional airline products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Fly91?

Reported rivals include Star Air, Alliance Air, IndiGo, Air India Express. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Fly91?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

Related Startup Deep Dives: Propertypistol — Raised Rs 25 crore in a Pre-Series B round led by Ashish Kacholia in January 2026; FY25 revenue about Rs 152 crore with a net loss of about Rs 43 crore (estimates) | Country Delight — Raised $108 million Series D led by Venturi and Temasek in 2022; FY24 revenue reported at Rs 1,380 crore. Browse the full Startup Deep Dive series.

Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.