Agartala, April 27 Chennai-based Paramount Airways has launched its operations on Monday connecting the eastern and northeastern region with the southern Indian cities.

"From Monday onwards, the Paramount Airways would operate airbus between Kolkata, Guwahati, Agartala and many southern India cities," said R.C. Das, director of the airports authority of India, Agartala.

"The first airbus flight of the Paramount Airways from Kolkata landed at the Agartala airport Monday afternoon and later returned to Guwahati," he told IANS.

"The airline plans to cover all major cities in the western region by 2009 and start operations in northern India and remaining cities of north-eastern region from 2010 onwards," said an official of Paramount Airways, India's first all business class airline.

According to the official, Paramount Airways launched its operations in October 2005 and has since achieved a market share of 27 percent in southern India.

"The best part of the Paramount Airways schedule was that eastern India passengers would find it more convenient to connect to other important destinations like Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Bangalore, Kochi, and Hyderabad," said the official.