New budget airline launched as serial aviation investor targets Latin America

Bill Franke, one of the world’s most-influential investors in budget airlines, has debuted a low cost carrier in Chile that aims to expand regionally in the coming years. Franke, the co-founder and managing partner of the airline-focused investment fund Indigo Partners, said the new carrier JetSmart plans to operate three Airbus A320s this year in Chile and add another six in 2018. Once established in Chile, JetSmart will eye regional expansion, he said. "We haven’t gotten to that yet, but we have a lot of interest expressed by other countries," Franke said after the debut in Santiago at the weekend. "We need to get the base of operations here, stabilise the airline … and then we will expand the airline." Franke’s Indigo Partners, which already controls Frontier Airlines and owns part of Mexico’s Volaris, is known for unbundled or a la carte fares in so-called ultra-low-cost airlines, where passengers are offered cheap base prices with the option of paying more for extras. Indigo Partners is also in talks to acquire part of Canada’s Enerjet, and Franke said the fund was currently talking with regulators to better understand foreign ownership rules.<br/>