Tony Fernandes, CEO of Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia , has changed the face of travel in Southeast Asia with his low-cost business model. Now, the question on every Indian frequent flyer's lips is: will he succeed in doing the same in India? The jury may be out on that, but industry experts say AirAsia will certainly shake up India's aviation market. The Kuala Lumpur-based airline has teamed up with Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace to launch a domestic airline in India where less than three per cent of the population flies. It will own 49 percent of the new airline, AirAsia India, while the Tatas will hold 31 percent and Telestra the rest.
The airline plans to launch with three to four Airbus A-320s this year, and scale up thereafter. "I think we can give a fair competition ... I think irrational competition has gone out of the Indian market. Now there are sensible businessmen running their (aviation) business sensibly," Fernandes said during a global teleconference from Malaysia.
17/03/13 K.R. Balasubramanyam/Business Today
