Feb 20, 2013: AirAsia is all set to start an airline in India with couple of Indian partners and in this regard AirAsia Investment Ltd. has
applied to Indian Foreign Investment Promotin Board (IFIPB) to invest 49 per cent in the joint venture. AirAsia, the leading low cost
carrier based in Malaysia will be starting the new airline operations from Chennai in association with Tata Group and Telestra Tradeplace Ltd. owned by Arun Bhatia. A memorandum of agreement has been signed by the parties in this regard and the new airline will be connecting tier II and tier III cities of India from Chennai.
Air Asia which is currently known as Asia’s largest Low Cost Carrier has got 118 aircrafts and has its operations in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The airline which is trying to replicate its success in India believes that the current environment in India is conducive for low cost carriers.
The new airline going to be introduced by AirAsia will be having a tough task ahead in the Indian market which is seeing some consolidation, rising aviation fuel prices, falling air fares and operators like Kingfisher going through turbulent times. Very recently, Spice Jet and Jet Airways have slashed their air fares drastically leading to a price war in the industry.
