No-frills AirAsia to fly to India from Dec. 1

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's budget carrier AirAsia will fly to the southern Indian city of Tiruchirapally from Dec. 1, its first destination in India that marks a toehold into a market that has long been out of its reach, its chief said Monday.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said tickets will go on sale at midnight Wednesday with the first flight taking off from Kuala Lumpur's low-cost terminal at 7.40 a.m. on Dec. 1.
"It is fantastic.We finally got there. It is the final frontier for us. This was the last flag we had to plant," Fernandes told The Associated Press.
He said AirAsia will fly daily to Tiruchirapally, also known as Trichy, and there is a possibility of adding a second flight because of the "tremendous" response to the plan.
When AirAsia started in December 2001, it focused on flying within Malaysia. Soon it expanded operations to Southeast Asia and China, becoming the region's biggest and most successful no-frills budget carrier.
Adding India completed the network, Fernandes said.
According to industry watchers, the Indian government was pressured by full-fare airlines such as Malaysia Airlines, Indian and Jet Airways to keep out AirAsia.
None of the three airlines fly directly from Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchirapally, but they will be hit when AirAsia starts flying to other Indian cities.
Fernandes said plans are afoot to fly within the next 1 1/2 years to 10 more Indian destinations including Chennai, Madurai and Cochin, which are all in southern India and only about three hours away from Kuala Lumpur.
27/10/08 Vijay Joshi/BusinessWeek

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Categories: Foreign Oct 2008, Low Cost General Oct 2008, New Oct 2008