Hyderabad: Can an airplane become a destination and not just a mode of transport? Yes, says Mohd Abdul Majeed, the owner of the popular eatery, Pista House.
Hyderabad is all set to get its first flight restaurant in December at Shamirpet with Pista House recently purchasing the Air India’s first Airbus-320 and bringing it to the city.
Abdul Majeed who started his chain of restaurants with the first one in Shalibanda in 1997 now has a chain of 32 branches in Hyderabad and is getting the 33rd shaping as a flight restaurant.
“This airplane, the first in the Airbus 320 family in India, has already reached Hyderabad. It is undergoing works to become the first flight restaurant in Hyderabad,” he said.
The plane which was brought here by road shot into news after it got stuck at an underpass in Andhra Pradesh. Abdul Majeed said, “the AP Police as well as the local residents helped us by handling the situation and sent it through a different route.”
This plane which is in a dismantled state is being rearranged as a eatery and it is expected to open for customers to enjoy their meals in the month of December.
Sridhar, the franchise owner said, “we bought the plane for about Rs 75 lakh and plan on investing another Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for designing it as a restaurant.”
Abdul Majeed said the idea behind this restaurant was to introduce a new concept to the city. “Hyderabad is one of the most happening cities and we had to think of out of the box concept. Then, we narrowed down on getting to an actual plane and turning it into a restaurant,” he said.
Efforts are to ensure a place that will give an exact feeling of an airport. “We will be making a runway for the plane, the tickets would be like the boarding passes, and the customer will have to go through a security check just like the one at the airport,” he said.
The seating capacity of the plane is fixed at 150 and now strategies are being worked out on how the food is to be served – either like in-flight meals for vegetarian and non-vegetarian, or a buffet-style meal.
