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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

Following the successful launch of their unified reservations system, <keyword id="2573" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="air-india" source="Orion">Air India</keyword>'s subsidiary airlines - <keyword id="6378232" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="air-india-express" source="Orion">Air India Express</keyword> and <keyword id="1583080" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="airasia-india" source="Orion">AirAsia India</keyword> - are now focusing on cutting over to common airport check-in systems in a phased manner at all international terminals in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, followed by the overseas network. The unified customer interface of Air India Express and AirAsia India has witnessed a surge of visitors within days of the launch of the platform, contributing over 25 per cent of international flight revenue on the first day itself. Nearly half the bookings on airindiaexpress.com have been from international markets, with Dubai being the largest source city of traffic and other top international sources of traffic being Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sharjah, and Singapore. Domestic traffic and bookings on the platform have come from metro markets like Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai, reflecting the domestic network and hubs of AirAsia India. Flyers of both airlines are now logging in, booking, and managing reservations for both Air India Express and AirAsia India flights on the unified website, launched as a milestone in the integration of the two airlines. The new website is built on the platform of the AirAsia India website developed by <keyword id="6357585" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tata-consultancy-services" source="Orion">Tata Consultancy Services</keyword> with the support of <keyword id="8187544" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tata-digital" source="Orion">Tata Digital</keyword> and provides a significantly enhanced booking, support and travel experience for Air India Express customers from its historical platform. The launch of the new website was enabled by the migration to common reservations and check-in system, which now unifies the entire commercial ecosystem of the two airlines. As part of the integration, brand communications and support have also moved to common social media handles on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Online reputation management tools indicate that the integrated social media handles have the highest social reputation score amongst all Indian airlines, driven by the faster response and resolution times and massive positive sentiment and feedback on the user experience of the new website and support channels. With a unified sustainability strategy, the website also offers flyers the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint by planting a tree for every booking, with a geo-location tagged URN Certificate. In the warm response to the integrated platform, Aloke Singh, Managing Director, of Air India Express and AirAsia India, said: "The initial phase of integration of Air India Express and AirAsia India has been executed in a robust manner in record time. We have successfully migrated to modern-day technology from the legacy systems that were dominant. This migration has been built by leveraging the existing strong attributes of AirAsia India with additional deployment of relevant tech solutions. We are working on adding even more unique features and integrated service which will deliver an enhanced experience and strengthen our position in the minds of the customers." SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/two-tax-regimes-rise-of-freelancers-drive-people-to-tax-experts-chartered-accountants/articleshow/99243392.cms">Two tax regimes &amp; rise of freelancers drive people to tax experts, chartered accountants</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/ondc-to-foster-hyperlocal-ecommerce-business-model-in-india-nandan-nilekani/articleshow/99243637.cms">ONDC to foster hyperlocal ecommerce business model in India: Nandan Nilekani</a>

Air India Express, AirAsia India focus on common check-in systems after unified reservations

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airasia-tony-fernandes-succession-good-leadership-cheap-flights-2023-4">AirAsia co-founder Tony Fernandes</a> posted a picture of himself receiving a massage while shirtless at work.</li><li>The LinkedIn post generated debate online, with many saying it was unprofessional.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airasia-ceo-tony-fernandes-turned-a-29-cent-investment-into-a-billion-dollar-empire-2014-12">AirAsia co-founder </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airasia-ceo-tony-fernandes-turned-a-29-cent-investment-into-a-billion-dollar-empire-2014-12">Tony Fernandes</a> has sparked debate online after posting a <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=8a0e2a888680f55d6a57b4c472c34c590d5caab6b80373b9950d392832544a2e&amp;postID=652d685a1637bb40be8cf4cc&amp;postSlug=airasia-tony-fernandes-photo-shirtless-massage-meeting-linkedin-2023-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ffeed%2Fupdate%2Furn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7119527344515543040%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photo on LinkedIn</a> showing himself getting a shirtless massage during a management meeting."Was a stressful week and Veranita Yosephine suggested a massage," Fernandes wrote on LinkedIn early Monday morning, referencing AirAsia Indonesia CEO Veranita Yosephine. "Got to love Indonesia and AirAsia culture that I can have a massage and do a management meeting."The photo shows Fernandes sitting without a shirt in an office chair at what looks like a conference table, looking at a tablet device while a person wearing an apron, hairnet, and face mask stands behind him and massages his shoulders.<div type="image" title="Tony Fernandes AirAsia massage" height="1564" width="2086" msid="104502438" hostid="261"></div>Dozens of commenters on LinkedIn quickly weighed in on the post, with many seemingly flabbergasted at the move.Some LinkedIn users commented in favor of Fernandes' <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-workers-office-perks-ski-trips-massages-meals-list-2023-2">in-office massage</a> and the kind of work culture that would allow for it."This is handling stress management the right way," one business owner commented, while an airport employee commented that "AirAsia indeed has the most Employee friendly Work Culture."Others were far more critical, however, calling it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-youre-annoying-coworkers-2017-11">unprofessional for work</a> and pointing out that it might create an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/toxic-workplaces-culture-work-leadership-social-culture-2022-9">uncomfortable work environment</a>."A grown man, who is the chief executive of a publicly listed company, conducts a management meeting with his shirt off as he gets a massage," one marketing director commented. "Remove 'who is the chief executive of a publicly listed company' and it is still inappropriate."Another commenter appeared to make a sexual reference to a "happy ending" massage, drawing criticism."This behaviour, the comments about 'happy endings,' and the lack of self awareness to sit in a meeting topless is such a concern," the marketing strategist commented on the post. "Few people will challenge the boss or feel comfortable speaking out about it — but I assure you most women will not feel comfortable with this. Please, for their sake, listen to the women sharing their views on this."Spokespeople for AirAsia and AirAsia Indonesia did not respond to Insider's requests for comment, and the LinkedIn post has since been taken down.Fernandes bought the then-struggling AirAsia brand in 2001 from a conglomerate owned by the Malaysian government, and is credited with turning it into one of the most <a href="https://www.insider.com/airasia-best-airline-in-the-world-low-cost-budget-2023-7">popular budget airlines in Asia</a>.AirAsia was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tony-fernandes-air-asia-ceo-interview-e-commerce-branson-2017-11">fourth-largest airline in Asia at its peak</a> with more than 200 aircraft and 21,000 staff members, Insider previously reported, but hit a hard <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airasia-redefining-role-of-an-airline-in-post-covid-world-2020-12">downturn during the pandemic</a>, with its operations in Japan and Thailand going bankrupt.Fernandes is working to step away from AirAsia to focus on other ventures. In November 2022 he stepped down as group CEO of AirAsia X, AirAsia's long-haul operations arm, and is reportedly working to find a successor for himself at AirAsia as a whole. He rebranded AirAsia group, the investment holding company that owns AirAsia and several other brands, to Capital A in January 2022, and plans on shifting his focus to Capital A's other areas of business. He remains CEO of Capital A.

AirAsia exec posts shirtless photo of himself getting a massage during a 'management meeting,' sparking debate

<keyword id="1674460" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mittu-Chandilya">Mittu Chandilya</keyword>, the model-turned-headhunter who was picked by <keyword id="82750" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tony-Fernandes">Tony Fernandes</keyword> to be the CEO of the India joint venture of AirAsia, is most likely quitting from his position in March once his current two-year contract with the airline ends. 
 
Among the top three executives that are being considered to replace Chandilya, Amar Abrol, current chief of AirAsia Bhd's insurance arm Tune Money is the frontrunner for the post of AirAsia India’s next chief executive. However, Abrol, who has no prior relevant experience, would be a surprise selection for the post. 
 
At the airline's next board meeting, which is expected by the end of this month, the matter would be discussed and most likely approved. As per ET sources, the airline has probably also selected a new chief financial officer. 
 
Since its operations began less than two years ago, AirAsia India has either lost or replaced about ten top executives, including chief financial officer Vijay Gopalan and commercial director Gaurav Rathore. 
 
"These are speculative reports," an AirAsia India spokesman replied to ET's request for comment. "We have no (further) comments to offer right now." 
 
<a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ir0PMqoVTkg/maxresdefault.jpg">Image source </a>

CEO Mittu Chandilya won’t renew his contract with AirAsia India

NEW DELHI: <keyword id="1583080" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="AirAsia-India">AirAsia India</keyword>, which plans to start operations sometime this year, knows it will have to fight hard with existing carriers for a piece of the market. Actually, the battle with rivals has already begun, even before <keyword id="82750" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Tony-Fernandes">Tony Fernandes</keyword>’s joint venture with the <keyword id="6360721" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Tatas">Tatas</keyword> takes wing. The latest round is being fought in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), with the incumbents strenuously objecting to the grant of an air operator’s permit to AirAsia India and complaining that the new entrant will disrupt industry “equilibrium”. 
 Gurgaon-based low-cost carrier <keyword id="6354706" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indigo">IndiGo</keyword>, the country’s airline largest by <keyword id="34527" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="market-share">market share</keyword>, and the Federation of <keyword id="1446" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="indian-airlines">Indian Airlines</keyword> lobby group have both objected to AirAsia’s entry. The letters, reviewed by ET, were in response to a public notice from DGCA seeking objections and suggestions on granting the permit. A DGCA official told ET that the views would be taken into consideration and a decision arrived at “soon”. 
 
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IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said the relaxation of foreign direct investment rules in September 2012 had not been aimed at helping set up new projects but was meant to act as a lifeline for loss-making airline companies laden with debt. 
 “IndiGo’s primary objection opposing the application of <keyword id="2069477" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="AirAsia-India-Private-Ltd">AirAsia India Private Ltd</keyword> for grant of licence to operate a new greenfield scheduled airline in India is based on the grounds that it is not permitted under the foreign direct investment policy as enunciated by the government,” the letter said. “The reason and rationale of the policy was to provide the opportunity for existing airlines to access muchneeded capital, improve the viability through expanding route networks and skills from international airlines,” it added. Both representations are identical except for some changes. 
 <keyword id="43642" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="FIA">FIA</keyword>’s letter has been signed by the associate director of the lobby group, Ujjwal Dey. The association represents <keyword id="6358200" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Jet-Airways">Jet Airways</keyword>, GoAir, SpiceJet, IndiGo and <keyword id="6373962" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kingfisher-Airlines">Kingfisher Airlines</keyword>, the last of which hasn’t been flying since October 2012. 
 
The points have been raised before, Ghosh said in an SMS reply to queries. “IndiGo has not raised any new objections,” Ghosh said. “Subsequent to the objections filed by the FIA on behalf of Jet Airways, Jet Lite, SpiceJet and GoAir on February 11, IndiGo only sent a letter on February 17 to the DGCA in support of some of these objections.” It should be pointed out that IndiGo is the country’s only carrier that has consistently been making profit. As an unlisted company, it’s not obliged to make quarterly earnings announcements. 
 
FIA and IndiGo both said a new entrant is not in the “long-term interest of existing airlines and consumers of the country.” They add: “The new joint ventures would have the opportunity to unfairly compete with the existing airlines, with huge losses and starved of capital, and thereby ensure that the existing airlines become even more vulnerable which could result in their ultimate closure.” FIA said the service proposed by AirAsia would result in “wasteful duplication” and “diversion of traffic” from existing airlines. IndiGo said that under “no circumstances” was the aviation sector ready to “inherit a fresh airline”. 
 
IndiGo and FIA also said a damaging price war was likely to ensue, which would “only lead to cumulative losses”. But that should also be read in the context of AirAsia having stopped international operations to four Indian cities, which would indicate that the local carriers flying those routes have been competitive, as ET reported on February 15. 
 
According to the submissions of both IndiGo and FIA, the accumulated losses of existing airlines as of March 2013 have hit Rs 77,000 crore. A senior aviation ministry official said the objections weren’t a surprise. 
 “We had expected such comments from the airline industry, but we have been very clear that the <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> policy is for both greenfield and brownfield airlines,” said the person, who didn’t want to be named. “However, the final call remains with the DGCA.” 
 It’s pertinent to note that Subramanian Swamy’s petition against AirAsia’s application is coming up for hearing in the <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> on Friday. FIA’s petition has been tagged along with that of Swamy. IndiGo had previously welcomed the prospect of competition.

IndiGo, FIA Against Granting Of Permit To AirAsia; DGCA Set To Take A Decision Soon

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.

You Searched For "AirAsia" and got 7 results

Air Hostesses, Loaders Turn Pilots At AirAsia

Anirban Chowdhury

Air India Express, AirAsia India focus on common check-in systems after unified reservations

IANS

AirAsia All Set To Take Off In India

BI India Bureau

AirAsia exec posts shirtless photo of himself getting a massage during a 'management meeting,' sparking debate

Kylie Kirschner

CEO Mittu Chandilya won’t renew his contract with AirAsia India

BI India Bureau

IndiGo, FIA Against Granting Of Permit To AirAsia; DGCA Set To Take A Decision Soon

Economic Times

AirAsia India – Can It Survive In Turbulent Times?

Pallavi Srivastava

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