DGCA has granted No-Objection Certificate to Chennai-based Paramount Airways subject to directions of the Madras High Court.

"We have given conditional NOC subject to the orders of High Court of Madras," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan told media.

However, the airline in a statement said, "Paramount Airways, the only all Business class airline in the country, received the final approval from the DGCA to resume operations."

"Earlier the airline had received an approval from the (Civil Aviation) Ministry for import of 14 aircraft including (Airbus) A-320s and (Bombardier) Q-400s," Paramount's statement said.

Paramount started operations in October 2005 and was the only airline to offer full business-class service at prices comparable to the normal economy class fares of other airlines. The carrier used to fly to 21 destinations across the country and had a market share of 1.5 per cent. It operated with five leased planes, two Embraer 170s and three Embraer 175s.

Paramount’s business model was pegged on the tax rebate offered by the Union government for operating smaller aircraft. The airline got fuel at a cheaper sales tax rate of four per cent and also did not have to pay parking and landing charges to airports.

The DGCA had last year suspended the Chennai-based carrier's scheduled permit as the airline did not have five aircraft as required by the prevailing aviation norms. The airline had to close after the DGCA de-registered three planes, following a dispute over payments with its lessors, GE Capital Aviation Service and Celestial Aviation Trading.

The Paramount Group is a Madurai-based textile company. The airline had ordered 10 A321-200 aircraft and had plans to launch short-haul international routes through those aircraft. It had plans to start flying to Colombo, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore, with West Asia and Africa later on.