Flight of fancy on a windswept field

With a background of manpower recruitment which branched out into the largest travel agency in the country (with a turnover of Rs 350 crore); they were the first when almost the entire India Inc wanted an opportunity to get into the airline business.

The Wahids tried their best to get support from the political class, the media and even the bureaucrats. But counter-lobbying by competitors was too strong for them to withstand.

Against-all-odds

They set up an airline from scratch Starting off as a travel agent, East West Travel & Trade Links was incorporated in 1982. It diversified into air-taxi operations in 1992 after the government opened the skies to private operators.

Apart from getting scores of approvals ranging from the finance ministry to the Indian High Commissioner of Bahrain, the Wahids went and struck a deal with five companies to lease aircraft.

‘‘The aircraft were available at the time. Eastern and PanAm had folded up in the US and GPA in Ireland had 1,000 aircraft it wanted to lease out,’’ says Faisal Wahid.

When they began scouting around, they realised they needed more investment. East West Airlines took Rs 300 crore from Indian Bank and others to start what at that time was India’s biggest airline. Their merchant banker was SBI Capital Markets Limited.

‘‘Everything was new and so many things could not be predicted. On January 6, 1992, the day we were to take possession of our first aircraft, the Customs department had a problem,’’ recalls Wahid. ‘‘It was a total mess. But in the first month, when the passengers’ queues started lengthening, we knew we were right.’’

Around November 1992, when East West had four aircraft, Indian Airlines went on strike. ‘‘Madhavrao Scindia called us to Delhi and told us that bring as many aircraft as you can and they would ensure that there would be no more hurdles from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. When none less than the country’s civil aviation minister is dealing with you across the table, we jumped and immediately got seven aircraft.’’

The strike was called off in two months, Scindia left, and the government’s attitude returned to square one. ‘‘They called it an open-air policy; on the ground it was totally closed,’’ says Wahid.

The company came out with a public issue in 1994 to repay the expensive bridge loans (Rs 14 crore taken from IDBI and Fairgrowth Financial Services at an average interest rate of 23 per cent) along with the interest amounting to Rs 21.86 crore. The issue was over-subscribed 22 times. The share touched dizzying heights up to Rs 140. Investors had paid Rs 40 a share which included a premium of Rs 30.

East West has a fleet of eight Boeing 737-200s and three Fokker F-27-500, catering to 32 destinations. It had massive capital investment plans in travel and hospitality before its managing director was gunned down on November 13, 1995.

A murder changes all

From then on, it was all downhill. Kolding, an European aircraft lessor, took $4 million. Another aircraft leasor, PLM Equipment asked for $3 million as dues for the three Boeings they leased and after much haggling, East West was taken to court. The Wahids were told to pay up or return the planes.

The Wahids dodged lawsuits with these firms in the US and UK to avoid high legal fees. With four planes grounded, they took permission to be taken off trunk routes.

By June they were flying from only one hub — Bombay.

They tried to get more loans from the banks, approached the Maharashtra Government with a revival plan, appealed to the ministers in Delhi for allowing foreign direct investment. But all failed.

An inquiry was instituted against them by the 13-day BJP government about their links with the underworld.

In August, the Wahids pulled the plug. They had a mountain of cases against them: Claims by the Income Tax department, Customs, Airport Authority and Indian Bank has filed a suit in Chennai.

Then the mystery

Faisal Wahid is not shy of answering questions. ‘‘We are still living here. Would we be, if we were scared of the underworld?’’

Over four separate two-hour meetings with the The Indian Express — capped with a big-smile photograph — he narrated the history of his company. The family still lives in Bandra and Faisal Wahid (34) travels the 40-minutes across Mahim creek to his travel agency every day.

Carpets, beige corduroy couches and dark frosted glass, it is a typical office from the nineties. As the youngest Wahid, he had just passed out of National College in Mumbai and handled the marketing of the airline.

He is bitter about the way the police handled his brother’s murder case. ‘‘The file was closed before it started. It was such a farce. What IB report are you talking about? IB must be a very resourceful agency if not a single person was questioned. How do you call that an inquiry?’’

While Guru Satam escaped to Malaysia to join his mentor Chhota Rajan there after Wahid’s murder, D’Souza was killed in an encounter by Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma and his deputy Daya Nayak.

Erstwhile Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) and now Additional Commissioner Rakesh Maria refutes Wahid’s charge and says that a full-fledged investigation was done.

According to the police, the recent confession of Iqbal Ibrahim (Dawood’s younger brother) reveal that Wahid was close to the Pakistan-based don. Iqbal is in custody of Mumbai Police after he was deported from Dubai on February 19.

Ask Wahid about the future and he says: ‘‘We’ve not given up. Maybe next year, may be in 10 years we will come back. We did it once, we can do it again,’’ he says, before rushing off to New York for a business deal. The records of all the investors, he says, are still there in his Bandra office.

(With inputs from J Dey)