AirAsia to carve new market in India, to add 10 planes annually - Indian Express

PTI : Mumbai, Mon Jul 01 2013, 14:02 hrs CEO Tony Fernandes said AirAsia would want to offer the lowest possible fares in its Indian operations. (Reuters) AirAsia India, which is planning to start operations in the country with three planes later this year, today said it will add at least 10 planes annually and was looking at carving out "a new market" here. "The airline is here not to take anybody else's business market share away, but to create a new market in this 1.2-billion market," AirAsia Group Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said. He was addressing the media during his maiden visit after the airlines announced its joint venture with the Tatas and Delhi businessman Arun Bhatia in February. Stating that he has not faced any bureaucratic hurdles so far, Fernandes, flanked by his deputy Kamarudin Merananun and India chief Mittu Chandilya, also said he is travelling to the national capital this evening and will be meeting Aviation Minister Ajit Singh tomorrow. He said this in reply to a query that the Minister, after the announcement of the 49:30:21 joint venture, had said he would have been happy had Tatas themselves launched the airline instead of it being done through a foreign joint venture. When asked how he will achieve scale and success with just three planes and that too connecting only southern region, Fernandes said: "We will aggressively expand the fleet size and are looking to add at least 10 planes a year." On pricing strategy, Fernandes said AirAsia will want to offer the lowest possible fares in this market. The AirAsia Group CEO added that with a huge online population in the country, he is hopeful of achieving scale through lower priced tickets and cutting costs by offering most of the tickets online, keeping the agents away as much as possible. It may be noted that almost 90 per cent tickets are still sold through agents in the country, while the Kuala Lumpur- based AirAsia sells over 80 per cent online, through its own website. ... contd. ALSO READ Gold futures prices rebound on firm global cues Nokia to buy Siemens' stake in NSN for 1.7 bn euros United Spirits jumps over 6% after Morgan Stanley buys stake Infosys Ltd may cut FY14 revenue guidance: Morgan Stanley Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHSOFi4PS8bYhLdu4JWejjQkn4YBQ&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/airasia-to-carve-new-market-in-india-to-add-10-planes-annually/1136134/

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