Bangalore International Airport is set to see its third start-up airline take flight, after Air Deccan and Kingfisher, which blazed the Indian skies before going off the radar for differing reasons in a notoriously difficult business environment.

Air Pegasus, floated by one of the largest domestic airport ground handling companies – Decor Aviation Private – will take flight in mid-September, linking southern Indian cities with a fleet of three ATR turboprop aircraft. The new carrier’s initial network will include Bangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Hyderabad, Hubli, Goa, Madurai, Tuticorin and Kozhikode.

The carrier plans to expand its fleet to six aircraft by year-end and in a year’s time it hopes to expand to reach the Northern, Eastern and Western parts of the country. The low-cost carrier plans to leverage its ground handling business to help lower costs.

“We hope to offer fares Rs 750-1,000 (US$12.30- 16.40) cheaper than rivals in sectors that we fly,”Air Pegasus chairman & MD Shyson Thomas told the Times of India. His Decor Aviation Private, which handles airport services for domestic and international carriers across southern airports, will pump in US$15 million and Canara Bank is extending a US$5 million loan to the airline.