Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia initially plans to invest $30 million in its Indian joint venture airline with the Tata Group, its chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said in Delhi on July 3. Apart from this, the company is eyeing the Indian insurance market through its Tune Money venture. Tune Money is into travel protection plans and lifestyle protection plans.
It is also planning to expand its Tune Hotels - budget hotels - in India. At present it has one in Gujarat. Fernandes is hopeful that the airline operations can start from October. Fernandes met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on July 2. The company has already applied for a no-objection certificate. The company is planning to start from south India, with Chennai as its head office.
Fernandes mentioned that the airline can have many bases in the southern part of the country like Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi. He added that the ministers in south India were cooperative with him. Fernandes plans to further bring down airline fares in India as he feels these are now ruling at a higher range.
He pointed out that many domestic airline fares in India are higher than travelling to international destinations by AirAsia. The company also plans to look at international routes from India as Fernandes feels that India is a fantastic location to connect to Africa and the Gulf countries.
Putting a lot of thrust on bringing down airfare, to make it more affordable for the common man, he said that is dream is to replicate the company's tagline 'Everyone can fly', where every common man has flown, like in Malaysia. Competition brings more choice, he added.
He plans to offer even a few free air tickets when the airline starts operations in India. The maids are going home every two-three months because of AirAsia in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. We have transformed quality of life for labour force. We are unbundling the fare and by giving you (passengers) the choice of whether you want it or not, we will enable more people to fly, he said.