AirAsia Aims for a Full Flight in India

Say hello to Tony Fernandes, the 46-year old Malaysian entrepreneur of Indian origin who turned around a tottering airline into Asia’s most successful low-cost carrier. Coming off a three-year campaign in China, Fernandes declares, rather gleefully, that 2010 will be his “India year”. He is bringing frightful commitment to his Indian campaign. “It is easy to roll over and play dead. We plan to stay and fight. In India, there hasn’t been anyone who has done this,” he says.
Fifteen months ago, AirAsia began operating on the fringes of the Indian market, connecting Malaysia to Kolkata, Trichy, Kochi and Trivandrum. But starting end April, it will up the ante. The airline plans to gradually link New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and from there to over 130 routes.
The Indian market is second only to China in growth. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are top-of-the-charts holiday spots for Indians and everyone loves a good deal. Over the next year, he plans to ferry two million passengers — many of them first-time air travellers — to India and back on about 148 weekly flights.
There is also an emotional reason why Fernandes is keen on India. His family hails from Goa. “My dad would have been over the moon to see AirAsia connect to India,” he says, “If I can’t make it work here, I might as well pack up and go back to the music business.”
That’s the other thing you should know about Fernandes. He had no experience in airlines till nine years ago. Fernandes ran a music business when he was introduced to the wily Malyasian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad in 2001. Mohammad persuaded Fernandes to buy out his government’s stake in the struggling Air Asia for just one ringgit. It was a terrible time for a new entrepreneur to step in. Fernandes not only turned around AirAsia, paying off all the debts, he even figured out a way to go one up on his role model, the Irish airline Ryanair, till then considered to be the best low-cost airline in the world. At $3.21 per available seat kilometer, AirAsia’s costs are today the lowest in the world.
06/02/10 Cuckoo Paul/Business.in.com

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Categories: Foreign Feb 2010, Low Cost General Feb 2010, New Feb 2010