Fernandes proposes a single listed Asean holding firm for AirAsia

Petaling Jaya: AirAsia Bhd’s founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes says he wants to combine the group’s separate units in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines under a single listed Asean holding company.
“We are urging Asean Governments to relax ownership restrictions and consider Asean investors as equivalent to local investors,” said Fernandes, who is also the low-cost airline’s group chief executive officer, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
AirAsia, which is listed on Bursa Malaysia, had previously sought to list each operating unit in its respective home country.
One of AirAsia’s key goals, Fernandes said, was to monetise its non-core assets.
The biggest will be Asia Aviation Capital Ltd, its leasing arm, which he said was worth US$1bil.
“We are at the due diligence stage for this and have been surprised at the interest we are getting.
AirAsia India reported the highest aircraft utilisation rate among all the short-haul airlines in the AirAsia Group, managing a 52% capacity increase in the 12 months to Q4’16 with the addition of just two aircraft from an initial fleet of six.
“Our focus remains on building our footprint and introducing our low fares to many more Indian cities,” Fernandes said.
24/02/17 The Star

Read More

Ownership and control of AirAsia with Indians: DGCA to Delhi HC

New Delhi: The ownership and control of AirAsia India would remain with Indian nationals under its Brand Licensing Agreement (BLA) with its parent company, Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad, aviation regulator DGCA said on Thursday. The submission by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before the Delhi High Court was made in response to the allegation of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) that as per the BLA, the ownership and control of the airline was with the foreign entity.
On FIA’s plea, the court had on November 11 last year asked DGCA to peruse the BLA between AirAsia India and AirAsia Berhad to determine who controls the low-cost carrier. The DGCA report said “based on the review of BLA along with provisions of Aircraft Rules 1937 and definition of control as provided in FDI policy, I do not find that the terms and conditions laid down in BLA dilute the substantial ownership and effective control of AirAsia India vested with Indian nationals.”
It also said that the “status of issuance of air operator permit (or flying licence) to AirAsia India does not change”. Meanwhile, AirAsia India opposed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s application to make R Venkataramanan, Managing Trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and a member of the Board of AirAsia India Pvt Ltd, a party in the case.
23/02/17 PTI/Indian Express

Read More

AirAsia India's BLA does not violate ownership norms: DGCA

Aviation regulator DGCA has said the Brand Licencing Agreement (BLA) of AirAsia India does not violate the "substantial ownership and effective control" norms.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) conclusion comes after a detailed review of the BLA that was directed by the Delhi High Court in November 2016. The report has been submitted to the court.
AirAsia India, a joint venture between the Tatas and Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad, commenced operations in June 2014.
While Tata Sons holds 49 per cent, its two directors -- S Ramadorai and R Venkataramanan -- have 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent shareholding, respectively, in the airline. The remaining 49 per cent is with AirAsia Investment Ltd.
The BLA is between AirAsia Berhad (licensor) and AirAsia India (licensee). Under the pact, AirAsia India has been permitted to the operate scheduled air services under the trade name and livery of the licensor.
20/02/17 PTI/The Times Of India

Read More

AirAsia becomes first foreign airline to start operations from Srinagar airport

New Delhi: In a first move by a foreign airline, AirAsia became the first airways ever to start its operations from Srinagar international airport in Jammu and Kashmir. The landing for the AirAsia flight had been flagged off by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti at Srinagar airport on Sunday.
Srinagar airport is christened ‘The Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport’ for the last five years, but no foreign airlines has operated services from there so far. The flight operation by AirAsia is expected to give a fillip to tourism in the valley. To begin with, AirAsia, a Malaysian low-cost airline, will operate one flight daily between Delhi and Srinagar.
Aviation regulator DGCA has said the Brand Licencing Agreement (BLA) of AirAsia India does not violate the “substantial ownership and effective control” norms. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) conclusion comes after a detailed review of the BLA that was directed by the Delhi High Court in November 2016. The report has been submitted to the court.
19/02/17 Financial Express

Read More

Indian DGCA okays AirAsia India brand agreement

The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has rejected a plea by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) to cancel the Air Operator's Permit (AOP) of AirAsia India (I5, Chennai), finding it had not violated foreign ownership and control criteria, according to DGCA documents seen by ch-aviation.

The FIA is a member body comprised of legacy Indian carriers Jet Airways (9W, Mumbai Int'l), GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l), IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) and SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int'l). It had raised concerns with the Delhi High Court that a brand license agreement (BLA) between AirAsia India and AirAsia Group compromised the former's status as majority Indian-controlled, a requirement for Indian airlines.

In its decision, the DGCA found that AirAsia India's principal place of business is in India, the Chair and at least two-thirds of the board are Indian nationals, and 51% shareholding of the business is with Indian nationals.
17/02/17 ch-aviation

Read More

Indian DGCA okays AirAsia India brand agreement

The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has rejected a plea by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) to cancel the Air Operator's Permit (AOP) of AirAsia India (I5, Chennai), finding it had not violated foreign ownership and control criteria, according to DGCA documents seen by ch-aviation.

The FIA is a member body comprised of legacy Indian carriers Jet Airways (9W, Mumbai Int'l), GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l), IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) and SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int'l). It had raised concerns with the Delhi High Court that a brand license agreement (BLA) between AirAsia India and AirAsia Group compromised the former's status as majority Indian-controlled, a requirement for Indian airlines.

In its decision, the DGCA found that AirAsia India's principal place of business is in India, the Chair and at least two-thirds of the board are Indian nationals, and 51% shareholding of the business is with Indian nationals.
16/02/17 ch-aviation

Read More

AirAsia India launches new training facility in Bengaluru

No frills carrier AirAsia India has launched its new training facility here, where its crew will be imparted advanced coaching equipment and practical scenario-based trainings.
AirAsia crew will also be equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills essential to managing any emergency seamlessly, the company said.

The in-house coaching facility located at AirAsia India head office premises here can accommodate 100 trainees, a company release said.

S Ramadorai, Chairman of AirAsia India, inaugurated the training centre in the presence of other board members.

AirAsia India will soon be applying to DGCA for regulatory approvals for the training facility, it said.
14/02/17 PTI/Money Control

Read More

AirAsia adds domestic trio in India

Effective 19 February 2017, the low-cost carrier will commence flights from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to the cities of Bagdogra in West Bengal state, Pune in Maharashtra state, and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.

All three routes will be operated daily using an all-economy class Airbus A320 aircraft.
13/02/17 Mark Elliott/Travel Daily India

Read More

AirAsia apologises for flight delay

Bengaluru: AirAsia India on Friday said the hoax bomb threat call to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here on Wednesday had delayed its flight I5 1129 by seven hours.
The incident had caused enormous inconvenience to its 160 passengers, AirAsia said in a release.

The airline said: “AirAsia India deeply apologises for the inconvenience caused by this incident to its guests, and finds it of utmost importance to call out the sheer insensitive attitude of the culprits who are being interrogated by the police.”
11/02/17 Deccan Herald

Read More

Hoax bomb call made to airport, couple held for trying to delay flight

Bengaluru: A couple was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru early on Thursday morning, in connection with a hoax call made to delay the take-off of a Kochi-bound Air Asia India flight.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Neha Gopinathan and Arjun, natives of Kerala who resided at the BTM Layout in South-East Bengaluru, were arrested after investigations showed that all other 180 passengers had boarded the flight on time, and the couple had enquired several times about the flight, stating that they were late to reach the airport due to a problem with their taxi.
The flight eventually took off six hours late.
According to the report, Assistant Commissioner of Police N Shivakumara said the police was informed, and the couple was arrested when they reached the airport. The couple claimed they needed to reach Kochi in the morning as their engagement was to take place that day.
One of the couple’s relatives called up the airport from a public telephone booth in Kochi around 8.31 pm on Wednesday and claimed that there were explosives in the AirAsia flight to Cochin. The flight, scheduled to take off at 8:45 pm, was thus delayed by six hours while bomb detection and disposal squads examined it.
10/02/16 Deccan Chronicle

Read More

AirAsia India compliant with Indian laws: DGCA

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will not cancel the air operator permit granted to AirAsia India as it hasn’t found any violation of ‘substantial ownership and effective control’ norms as alleged by its rivals.

The aviation regulator released a report based on directions of the Delhi High Court which had sought DGCA’s response to the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA)’s plea alleging that the brand licensing agreement signed between AirAsia India and its foreign airline partner AirAsia Berhad, was not considered while granting licence to operate flights.

“I do not find that the terms and conditions laid down in BLA dilute the ‘substantial ownership and effective control’ of AirAsia India being vested in Indian nationals,” B.S. Bhullar, Director-General, DGCA said in an order on February 8, adding, “further, status on issuance of AOP [air operator permit] to AirAsia does not change.”

The FIA, which represents IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir, had moved the Delhi High Court seeking a review of the air operator permit granted to AirAsia India.

The body had alleged that the day-to-day operations of AirAsia India were controlled from Malaysia as a result of the BLA signed in April 2013, violating the substantial ownership and effective control norms — a charge AirAsia India had denied.
09/02/17 The Hindu

Read More

AirAsia India, Vistara eye int'l ops in 2H18

AirAsia India(I5, Chennai) and Vistara (UK, Delhi Int'l) have both confirmed plans to enter the international market in the coming eighteen months.

The former's Chief Executive Officer Amar Abrol told India's Economic Times on the sidelines of the CAPA India Aviation Summit that the budget carrier will likely make its international debut during the second half of 2018. Current fleet projections put the carrier over the twenty aircraft fleet threshold in or around mid-2018, he added.

Concerning Vistara, the full-service carrier's CEO Sanjiv Kapoor told the paper that he, too, expects the airline to start international flights during the second half of 2018. Like AirAsia India, Vistara projects reaching the twenty-aircraft minimum in July of next year. While no specific destinations have been mentioned, Kapoor said Vistara will first offer short-haul flights before expanding into the longhaul segment. There, it has been speculated that the carrier may eventually source B777X widebodies from co-parent, Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi).
10/02/17 ch-aviation

Read More

AirAsia India to double revenue, traffic this year

AirAsia India says it expects to double the annual revenue in the coming financial year, 2017-18.

However, profitability will remain under pressure as it invests in new planes, routes and hiring of more people, said chief executive Amar Abrol.

Revenue was Rs 658.8 crore in 2015-16. The airline, joint venture of Tata Sons and Malaysia’s AirAsia, has eight aircraft and will add six more this calendar year. The aim is 20 by the winter schedule of 2018, the qualification for applying to ply abroad. Which is when we will get to international operations, said Abrol.

The airline expects to increase passenger numbers to 4.8 million in 2017-18, from 2.4 mn now. Abrol said it was being helped by feed from Malaysia and Thailand, where AirAsia Bhd (the parent) has strong hubs. "We have a fly-through product which allows passengers to travel, for example, from Kuala Lumpur to Srinagar via Delhi We are building on that," he said.

It will hire as it increases operations. The airline recently took on 10 foreign pilots and will have personnel of 1,731 by the end of 2017-18, from 1,021 currently.
09/02/17 Arindam Majumder & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

Read More

AirAsia India may fly from Mumbai

Low-cost carrier AirAsia India is currently in talks with the management of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) to start operations from country’s most congested yet important airport in the city.

Though the airline management is very keen to connect their network with financial capital Mumbai, there is nothing concrete as of now, claim the sources.

When asked about the development, Amar Abrol, managing director and CEO of AirAsia India, said that it was not that they did not want to come to Mumbai, but it was about when.

Kiran Jain, director - commercial, AirAsia India, when asked about the ongoing talks between the airline and Mial over slot availability, said, “I can not talk about it now.”

Though AirAsia initially remained away from the highly-congested airports of Delhi and Mumbai, the airline finally announced operations from the national capital in March 2015. The reason for starting flights from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was that it is a comparatively less congested, and therefore, there’s more availability of slots for the airlines.

This is not the first time that AirAsia might be looking at starting services from Mumbai.

In September 2015, AirAsia’s group chief executive Tony Fernandes had announced the flight from Mumbai with a tweet, “We are coming.”
09/02/17 Shahkar Abidi/DNA

Read More

AirAsia India to commence international operations by mid-2018

AirAsia India is likely to commence international operations from the second half of the next calendar year as it is expected to have a fleet of 20 aircraft by mid-2018.

The domestic budget airline, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malysian carrier AirAsia, has eight aircraft in its fleet and as per the norm, requires a minimum of 20 planes to fly on international routes.

"We will have 14 aircraft in the fleet within this year, depending on the business performance. And, we will add another six planes by the middle of the next year. Then we will get to international operations," AirAsia India Chief Executive Officer Amar Abrol said on the sidelines of the CAPA India Aviation Summit in Mumbai.

AirAsia India is evaluating routes for its proposed international operations, he said, adding that it makes sense for the airline to plug into its existing network in Southeast Asia.
08/02/17 PTI/Business Standard

Read More

AirAsia India appoints Deepak Mahendra as CFO

According to a PTI report, AirAsia India appointed Tata group veteran Deepak Mahendra as its new chief financial officer with immediate effect. His appointment confirms media speculation that the Tatas would have a larger say in the running of the low-cost carrier that is mired in attritions at the top level and an ongoing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into allegations of money laundering.
09/02/17 Travel Biz Monitor

Read More

AirAsia India Picks Tata Power's Deepak Mahendra As CFO

AirAsia India on Tuesday appointed Tata group veteran Deepak Mahendra as its new chief financial officer with immediate effect.

His appointment confirms media speculation that the Tatas would have a larger say in the running of the low-cost carrier that is mired in attritions at the top level and an ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into allegations of money laundering.

Mahendra replaces Ankur Khanna, who quit last month within ten months of joining the airline, after the ED summoned him in connection with the alleged financial wrongdoings at the airline under its earlier head. The ED is probing a Rs. 22 crore scam in the airline.

Mahendra has been with Tata Power as the chief of corporate finance and accounts since 2008. He started his career with Tata Steel.

A chartered accountant, Mahendra brings with him over three decades of experience in the finance function in diverse organisations.
07/02/17 PTI/NDTV

Read More

First ever sale kicks off on AirAsia India social channels

Riding on the increasing digital penetration in the Country, AirAsia India is launching its first
ever ‘Big ASS’ Sale on its social channels at 2130 hours on Thursday, 2 nd February 2017.
Here’s the chance for travel enthusiasts to pick up their bags, without thinking twice and
head out to their favourite destinations immediately! By immediately, we mean as early as
03/02/17 The Indian Express

Read More