The company which had a test run for Vaishnodevi on November 2, will commence its operations from Nov 9, TCIL managing director Ashwini Kakkar said at the launch of its co-branded (International Airline Passengers Association) IAPA card.

"The company is making a small beginning after conducting lot of research and is targeting the upper middle and upper class," Mr Kakkar added. The Vaishnodevi package is pegged at Rs 2,999 per head in a three tier A/c coach starting from New Delhi and back.

The company is trying to focus more on the travel segment as its forex business which contributes around 65 per cent to it turnover has wafer-thin margins and is facing competition in light of a number of new licences issued to forex dealers.

The company's subsidiary in Sri Lanka and Mauritius is doing extremely well, Mr Kakkar said. The Mauritian subsidiary is expected to make a profit of around $ 1 million while the Sri Lankan subsidiary is likely to post a profit of 1.5 Sri Lankan rupees in the current fiscal, he added.

On IAPA card, the company has signed an exclusive agreement with IAPA for India and the seven SAARC countries. IAPA offers its members preferential rates at over 17,000 hotels across the globe with discounts of upto 50 per cent, saving on car rentals up to 30 per cent among others. In India, the IAPA card will have two membership programmes, retail and associate membership in two categories bronze and silver. The bronze category is priced at $ 40 while the silver category is at $ 80, payable in Indian rupees.