AirAsia Aims India In 2008, Amritsar Tops Destination List

[Naim 6]

See, the hype-ing has started in earnest.

 

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June 13, 2007 16:46 PM

 

AirAsia Aims India In 2008, Amritsar Tops Destination List

 

By P.Vijian

 

MUMBAI, June 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's home- grown budget carrier AirAsia Bhd plans to launch its first flight to India towards end of 2008 and its first destination is likely to be Amritsar in Punjab.

 

"I am really limited by the planes and the earliest we can look at is the third quarter of 2008.

 

"I like Amritsar, many Sikhs have written to me but I need to know more about India. I only know about their music and cricket," AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes told reporters after speaking at the one-day Low Cost Airline Symposium in Mumbai here today.

 

AirAsia X, the long haul budget carrier of AirAsia, is being prepared to do longer destinations and the huge Indian aviation market, growing at 38 percent annually, appears to be on the company's route.

 

Earlier in the day, he told Bernama, India with many attractive destinations and well spread out geographically was ideal for budget carriers like AirAsia to venture into.

 

"India is very sexy, there are more than 100 destinations. We can look at least 30 points. It is a phenomenal market," he noted.

 

Other major cities like Calcutta, Goa and Kochin -- all major tourist attractions in India -- are also viable destinations, added Fernandes.

 

He also said Indian tourists arriving in Malaysia could connect to 75 other destinations that AirAsia is flying to currently.

 

Fernandes said there was no problem for AirAsia to fly to India under the bilateral agreement between India and Malaysia but their aircraft would not be able to fly within India until the Indian government grants approval.

 

India's passenger volume growth is robust and over the last 12 months, airlines carried 35 million domestic passengers and 25.7 million international passengers.

 

Fernandes is scheduled to meet Indian Aviation Minister Praful Patel later this afternoon and according to some industry sources landing rights for his aircraft would top the agenda when he meets the minister.

 

He also ruled out forming any alliance with Indian budget carriers to enter the India market.

 

-- BERNAMA

[Seth K 3]

If Malaysia won't let Air Sahara to operate here, I dun think India will welcome AirAsia to their country.

Edited June 13, 2007 by Seth K

[Pieter C. 5]

"India is very sexy" according to TF...

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[Seng Lim 0]

Indirectly referring to himself I guess since he's Indian (Malaysian of course)

[Louis L. 2]

he may also reffering to the gurls there

[Isaac 0]

Speaking of India, any idea how MAS is doing with their flights to/from India ? A trip report posted in A.net a few months ago showed a terrible load on MAS flight to/from BLR. I believe it's because MAS doesn't have a strong US gateway to support their Indian services.

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

good load as always to chennai...was on mh180 last month to chennai...unfortunately, choose jet airways on the trip back.

[Pieter C. 5]

unfortunately, choose jet airways on the trip back.

 

Can you elaborate ?

 

[Naim 6]

July 16, 2007 22:22 PM

AirAsia X Gets Nod To Fly Into India

 

SEPANG, July 16 (Bernama) -- AirAsia X has been granted the rights to enter India, but will only consider plans to fly there next year due to limited aircrafts, chief executive officer, Azran Osman-Rani said today.

 

He said the airline, which is expecting to receive its first leased airplane by August, has made Australia and China its priority following increased demand for low cost air travel from both countries.

 

"I have to prioritise as we are only going to start with one plane," he told reporters at the launch of AirAsia's Kuala Lumpur-Shenzen flight here.

 

He said the airline can only fly into India early next year when it receives the second airplane, which it hopes to receive early next year.

 

"With the first airplane, we can do (take turns flying) one Australian city and one Chinese city," he said.

 

"With the second plane, we can do one Indian city and, either a Korean or Japanese city," he noted.

 

Azran said AirAsia X is also expecting its 15 all-new Airbus A330 by late next year and has a wish to fly to London with the first aircraft received.

 

"We would like to fly to London and hope the government will support us in our application for landing rights," he said.

 

He said since the airline will not be able to fly direct to London, it was only natural to look at the West Asian countries as stop-overs.

 

"We are only looking at two to three European cities but are considering another three to four cities each in China and India," he said.

 

AirAsia X is owned by Fly Asian Express (FAX), a company controlled by AirAsia founder Datuk Tony Fernandes, and has a 30-year license to use the AirAsia brand and facilities.

 

-- BERNAMA