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Malaysian airline group <keyword id="6358246" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="AirAsia">AirAsia</keyword> today announced discounted fares across its flights, including those operated by <keyword id="1583080" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="AirAsia-India">AirAsia India</keyword>, for a period that goes up to April 2017. 
 
The bookings for availing the discounts can be made between today and October 16, 2016, AirAsia said. 
 The airline's year-end sale has fares starting from Rs 999 inclusive of all taxes for a one-way journey to domestic destinations such as <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword>, Kochi, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Pune, <keyword id="45774" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Imphal">Imphal</keyword> among other destinations connected by AirAsia India, it said. 
 
Passengers can also book tickets to international destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, Bali, Phuket, Melbourne, Sydney, among others, for fares as low as low as Rs 3,599. 
 
According to the airline, the booking period stands from October 3 to October 16 for travel between October 4, 2016 and April 27, 2017. 
 The Bengaluru-based budget airline AirAsia India, a subsidary of <keyword id="86568" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Asia">Air Asia</keyword>, is run jointly by AirAsia and <keyword id="46894" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tata-Sons">Tata Sons</keyword>. 
 
AirAsia India currently flies to 11 destinations with its two hubs in Bengaluru and New Delhi, covering Chandigarh, Jaipur, Guwahati, Imphal, Pune, Goa, Vizag, Kochi and Hyderabad.

Air Asia announces discounts on domestic, foreign flights

BANGALORE: A year after aviation entrepreneur G R Gopinath sold his baby — India's first low-cost airline <keyword id="96736" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Air-Deccan">Air Deccan</keyword> — he had famously told TOI that budget air travel was all about people wanting to go where an aircraft took them. People, said Gopinath, should ask, "to where can I get a ticket for Rs 500? So wherever that place may be, people go because the aircraft is going there." 
 Unfortunately, Gopinath was much ahead of his time, said 33-year-old Mittu Chandilya, CEO of <keyword id="1583080" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="AirAsia-India">AirAsia India</keyword>. Almost seven years after the Air Deccan legacy, AirAsia India is living up to Gopinath's words with the launch of its maiden flight from Bangalore to Goa on Thursday. "We want to give people the option to fly even if they didn't think about it," said Chandilya. 
 
A mint fresh Airbus 320 aircraft, registered as VT-A TF, took off to Goa at 3.10pm with 186 passengers including 10 children, three infants, five first time flyers and CEO Chandilya. Around 40% of the passengers paid Rs 990 for a one-way ticket, 10% paid Rs 5 as base fare (approximately Rs 500 all inclusive), and the rest of them didn't pay more than Rs 1,900. 
 
Besides the ticket fare, all passengers paid for their check-in luggage, which costs approximately Rs 199 per suitcase up to 15kg. The airline is in discussions with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on whether or not passengers should pay for their check-in luggage. While the DGCA has raised objections to the charge, AirAsia India believes that 'unbundling of fares' leads to more transparent airfares. 
 
"Somebody should be able to get up one weekend and say look I got nothing to do, so let me get on a flight and go somewhere and explore a destination which is new. Cost should be almost something that people don't spend time thinking about," said Chandilya, echoing what Gopinath had said years earlier. But he was quick to point out that AirAsia India is not an Air Deccan. 
 
India's newest domestic low-cost airline has started operations on the non-trunkBangal ore-Goa route, and at a time when the tourist season of Goa is at its lowest. The airline's second flight connecting Chennai-Bangalore next week is also on a non-trunk route, given the fact that the two southern metros are exhaustively connected by bus and rail services. 
 
"Both Bangalore and Goa have some sort of synergies with us in terms of our brand, marketing, and as destinations we believe that we can build up," said Chandilya, adding that AirAsia India's average fares would be comparable to rail tickets. "Railways first class and AC class is my target," he said. 
 
Interestingly, all of AirAsia India's upcoming destinations — nine by the end of this year — will connect to Bangalore. A clear indication that the country's IT capital could well be the airline's operational hub. The erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines had planned to make Bangalore its hub, but that idea died with the airline going bust a couple of years ago. 
 
Originally Chennai was chosen to be AirAsia India's hub, but there is some rethink happening on that strategy. "If you have a sudden emergency, which airport has the capability to get you up and running fast? We felt it was Bangalore. And that's the difference between private and government run airports," he said.

Air Deccan Was Ahead Of Time: AirAsia CEO

MUMBAI: In his latest visit to India, AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes pointed to an air hostess and announced the company will help her "realise her dream" of becoming a pilot. By his side sat <keyword id="1583080" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="AirAsia-India">AirAsia India</keyword> CEO <keyword id="1674460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Mittu-Chandilya">Mittu Chandilya</keyword>, a former model, and among the audience was India finance chief Vijay Gopalan, who has previously sung for and acted in Tamil movies. 
 
While, AirAsia India's fate in a turbulent sky of cut-throat competition is unknown, its quirky hiring has certainly caught the industry's attention. "It's true AirAsia has made some unusual choices," said Manish Sabharwal, chairman of staffing firm Teamlease Services. "This is something that AirAsia does globally too, and a different pair of eyes always makes things interesting," he added. Out-of-the-box appointments across the board have been integral to the AirAsia story, almost as much as its aggressive fares. 
 Bo Lingam, <keyword id="86568" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Air-Asia">Air Asia</keyword>'s chief of operations, Kathleen Tan, its former regional commercial director, and Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, have all joined the airline from Warner Music International, the music company that Fernandes quit as Southeast Asian regional vice-president to launch AirAsia back in 1993. The airline abounds with stories of ground staff elevated to the levels of cabin crew and pilots. 
 Fernandes himself often narrates the story of a loader he spotted just before the take-off of a Cebu-Kota Bharu flight. The loader struck him as brighter than the rest and he asked him whether he aspired to be a pilot. the loader scored record marks at the academy and in seven years has graduated to being the <keyword id="1411" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="captain">captain</keyword> of a brand new A320 plane. 
 
In fact, 11 out of AirAsia's first crew of 18 pilots had joined the airline as baggage handlers, cabin crew, cabin assistants or store boys. 
 Sonal Agrawal, managing partner at CEO search firm <keyword id="2438457" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Accord-India">Accord India</keyword>, said Fernandes "relies on his instincts". But, is it a sound strategy, particularly in a highly competitive industry? Or, is it just that the AirAsia founder is so immensely lucky to have got most his quirky calls right?

Air Hostesses, Loaders Turn Pilots At AirAsia

After receiving an operating permit from the <keyword id="6354705" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Directorate-General-of-Civil-Aviation">Directorate General of Civil Aviation</keyword>, <keyword id="6358246" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="AirAsia">AirAsia</keyword> India is all set to commence operations by July. This makes it the first airline to enter the domestic market after the government introduced a new policy in September 2012, allowing foreign carriers to own up to 49% stake in Indian airlines. 
 
“We have granted the Air Operator’s Permit (AOP or flying licence) to AirAsia India, subject to the final decision of the High Court and that is under the directions of the Supreme Court,” said DGCA chief Prabhat Kumar. 
 Following the development, the airline’s CEO <keyword id="1674460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mittu-Chandilya">Mittu Chandilya</keyword> tweeted, “Boom! 1815Hrs (IST) today AirAsia India was born. So proud of my team, which is ready to revolutionise air travel in India.” 
 <keyword id="82750" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tony-Fernandes">Tony Fernandes</keyword>, CEO of the Malaysian carrier AirAsia (it’s the parent company of the India entity), tweeted, “History has been made today in aviation. Everything has been hard for AirAsia, but we never give up. Today, AirAsia India has got approval.” 
“Our CEO @MittuChandilya with Air Operator’s Permit. What a battle that was. Proud day for me and all AirAsia stars,” he commented in another tweet. 
 AirAsia India is a joint venture between the Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, the <keyword id="6355725" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tata-Group">Tata Group</keyword> and the investment firm Telestra Tradeplace. 
AirAsia India has pledged to offer affordable airfares and it will, for the time being, focus on connecting tier II cities. It will have Chennai as its hub. The carrier recently completed its test flights that went on for more than 10 hours across five sectors, as per DGCA guidelines.

AirAsia All Set To Take Off In India

India’s civil <keyword id="45911" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aviation-sector">aviation sector</keyword> has been going through turbulent times lately. During its boom period from 2004 to 2008, the sector was driven by high economic growth rates and rise in income of the salaried class which had come to enjoy huge disposable incomes. 
 
Then the global economic recession hit in the last quarter of the calendar year 2008. Travel numbers dropped significantly and pushed airlines to barely managing operating costs. Yet amidst the gloom and doom scenario where the most glamorous of them all, Kingfisher, has fallen, a new star is aiming to rise. 
 
A new market of small city middle class travellers Malaysian budget carrier <keyword id="6358246" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="AirAsia">AirAsia</keyword>, one of the most profitable low-cost airlines in the world, partnered with <keyword id="46894" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tata-Sons">Tata Sons</keyword> and launched AirAsia India, which has been touted to bring in ultra low cost air travel to everyone in India who currently still travel by bus and trains. So who is the target traveller of AirAsia India? The vast majority of the Indian middle class which mostly avoids costly air travel. They include people like IT and sales executives travelling short distances between two nearby cities, teachers, doctors, engineers and small retail owners. But how will or can AirAsia tap this potentially huge customer base with existing low margins and high costs in the Indian aviation sector? 
 
Big time cost cutting to go cheap 
AirAsia India’s model is based on squeezing out every bit of time, energy and space from every other possible asset. AirAsia India is targeting fastest turnaround time for Indian aviation at less than 25 minutes. Turnaround time is defined as the time duration counted from the moment the plane lands till the moment the plane takes off from a particular airport. But high congestion in Indian airports, big ones in general, and especially during holiday and festival season makes turnaround times of even less than 30 minutes impossible. So, this will be a challenge that AirAsia will have to face for bigger airports. 
 
Again, intertwined with faster around time is its concept of more flying time for its aircraft per day and higher frequencies. This will serve smaller airports during the day which will be served by more number of flights by AirAsia. However, this would mean flights at odd hours like 5:30 in the morning to 11:30 at night which will be difficult at smaller airports where night flying facility is not up to the mark or not available. And larger airports’ congestion might not allow for such schedules. 
 
Then, on the personnel front, it is also going for cabin crews helping in loading and unloading from the baggage compartment and same crews will assist in removing stubs from boarding passes and prepare load sheets. Thus in this way, AirAsia is targeting an aircraft-to-manpower ratio of less than 1:100. Indigo achieved a ratio of 1:98 many years ago but that was because of economies of scale achieved through owning many planes. 
 
It is also going for point to point service without any tie ups with other airlines and travel companies. AirAsia India has its own website from where it provides all information and booking facility to its customers and travellers. This saves on costs of networking with other airlines and travel companies but takes away the advantage from travellers of being able to compare total flight expenses from different flight options on travel companies’ websites. 
 
Also, it aims to utilise every inch of space in the aircraft by packing as many seats as possible. So basically, there’s not much scope in terms of leg room or stretching your seat back. That is also one of the reasons why the airline has chosen smaller duration routes. 
 
Will consumers have to pay eventually? 
Finally, the real squeeze will be eventually from the consumers themselves but in a tricky way. The key here is targeting that segment of travellers who have to travel light for short distances – single-day or two-day business trips mostly over short distances. That’s why it is not refunding anything to travellers on cancellation of tickets. This is something that ‘no-frills’ airlines have been using across the globe in different ways. 
 
But in an evolving market like India, it will depend on how different segments of travellers take to the concept of going for reservations only in case of absolute certainty in travel plans. Companies paying for their employees’ travel will mostly not go for this option as corporate travel plans often change at the eleventh hour. 
 
They also did away with free check-in luggage of up to 15 kg but the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) butted in and asked the airline to take it back. That was some relief for consumers. 
 
Polarised opinion 
Other airlines and industry experts are divided on the future of AirAsia India. On one hand, industry experts and corporate honchos from other airlines feel that since the biggest cost element for Indian airlines remains aviation turbine fuel, making up 50% of operating costs along with airport leasing charges, the tweaking of other elements will not make that much of a difference in the long run. 
 
On the other hand, while the airline has targeted a break-even in less than six months, perhaps a promotional gimmick at best, it doesn’t matter that much because of the Tata tag. The biggest and most respected business group in India will easily make lenders wait for the airline to break-even and anytime expansion is needed, the profitable parent airline AirAsia in Malaysia and Tata Sons in India can put more capital into it. 
 
In essence, AirAsia will have to go for a lot of planning, market research, high operational efficiency and revenue forecasting for different possible routes so as to ascertain the most profitable ones.

AirAsia India – Can It Survive In Turbulent Times?

<keyword id="1625599" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Asia-India">Air Asia India</keyword> does not even have a dozen jets operating in India, but they sure know how to put a sale on. The low cost Asian carrier is operating majorly in southern part of India and few low key sectors. Consumers are seeing a lot of action as far as the aviation industry is concerned in south India. Spicejet, Indigo and <keyword id="86568" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Asia">Air Asia</keyword> have been giving discounts on many routes here. 
 Now, Air Asia has launched a week long sale on its entire flight network. One-way tickets are being given away at Rs 699 and this includes taxes. Yes, you read it right the ticket will cost you Just Rs 699 inclusive of taxes. People can pick these tickets on sectors such as <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword> to Goa, Kochi, Jaipur and Chandigarh, and vice versa. The offer is part of the Air Asia's global ‘Big Sale’ where they are giving 3 million airplane seats at rock bottom prices. 
 Over the domestic deal, the sale also includes some exciting overseas tickets. Indians can fly to <keyword id="6372507" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kuala-Lumpur">Kuala Lumpur</keyword> for fairs starting from Rs 2,599. The offer is available on flights from Kochi, <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword>, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur, <keyword id="8695" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Malaysia">Malaysia</keyword>. 
 
These are not bad deals at all. It will be interesting if Indigo and Spicejet give some exclusive offers as well, like they have done in the past. The Indian aviation sector is on fire and customers are in the driving rather flying seat.

Air Asia Does It Again, Gives One Way Air Tickets For As Low
As Rs 699 As Part Of Its 'Big Sale'

In an announcement made by <keyword id="1583080" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="AirAsia-India">AirAsia India</keyword>, the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/No-major-foreign-control-in-AirAsia-India-and-Vistara-Tatas-deny-rivals-accusations-in-the-ongoing-5/20-rule-debate/articleshow/51134064.cms"> Indo-Malaysian airline</a>, <keyword id="3288032" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amar-Abrol">Amar Abrol</keyword> will be succeeding <keyword id="1674460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mittu-Chandilya">Mittu Chandilya</keyword> as the CEO of AirAsia India, after Chandliya’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/CEO-Mittu-Chandilya-wont-renew-his-contract-with-AirAsia-India/articleshow/50959175.cms">contract ends on March 31st 2016</a>. 
 
"Chandilya's contract ends March 31, 2016, but he will continue with the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/AirAsia-All-Set-To-Take-Off-In-India/articleshow/34824944.cms">company</a> until the end of April to ensure a smooth transition of the CEO role," said the release. 
 
Abrol comes with over 20 years of professional experience and was the CEO of Tune Money, a low-cost financial products start-up since 2013, before which he spent 19 years with American Express. 
 
Chandilya has led <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/AirAsias-founder-Tony-Fernandes-is-looking-for-buyout-as-shares-plunge/articleshow/49596326.cms">AirAsia India</a> from June 1, 2013, and the airline has established a fleet of six aircraft, covering 12 routes and carrying over 1.8 million passengers. 
 
"In the most recent quarter of operation, October-December 2015, AirAsia India clocked a 134% growth in passenger traffic as it flew over half-a-million customers, and operated 3,376 flights as compared to 1,444 flights in the same period of 2014," said a release from the airline. 
 
Other changes in the management include the appointment of Ankur Khanna as the Chief Financial Officer and Kiran Jain as the Head of Commercial. 
 
While Khanna worked with Air France/KLM before this, Jain brings in over 25 years of aviation-related experience covering airports, airlines and duty free, having headed the Airport Marketing and Route Development function at Delhi International Airport. 
 
<a href="http://techstory.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/mittu.jpg">Image source</a>

You Searched For "Air Asia India news" and got 7 results

Air Asia announces discounts on domestic, foreign flights

PTI

Air Deccan Was Ahead Of Time: AirAsia CEO

Times Of India

Air Hostesses, Loaders Turn Pilots At AirAsia

Anirban Chowdhury

AirAsia All Set To Take Off In India

BI India Bureau

AirAsia India – Can It Survive In Turbulent Times?

Pallavi Srivastava

Air Asia Does It Again, Gives One Way Air Tickets For As Low As Rs 699 As Part Of Its 'Big Sale'

Sulabh Puri

Air Asia gets a new CEO, Mittu Chandilya’s contract ends this month

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