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Oct 2008
First AirAsia flight between Malaysia,
India from Dec 1
Kuala
Lumpur: Indian Government has reportedly given
its green signal to AirAsia to fly daily to and fro
Kuala Lumpur and Tiruchi from Dec 1. The airline would
start selling tickets to Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu at
midnight tomorrow, said AirAsia chief executive officer
Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes. "It will be a daily flight
and we are looking at even adding a second flight
now as the initial response has been tremendous,"
staronline.com quoted him as telling reporters at
a press conference here yesterday. Special promotional
prices for the flight will cost RM49 one way while
the normal ticket price will cost about RM200 one
way, he added. Fernandes said he expected a huge growth
in Indian tourists to Malaysia and that he was not
worried about the global economic slowdown. "I believe
that you have to be innovative. While other airlines
are cutting back, we are expanding and can take up
the slack" he added. Fernandes further said plans
were now in the works for the next one-and-a-half
years for AirAsia to fly to many more destinations
in India, including Chennai, Madurai and Kochi. It
is learnt that these destinations, plus Tiruchi, are
the places where many Malaysian Indians can trace
their roots and travel to for family visits. "AirAsia
X, meanwhile, will fly to places like New Dehli, Mumbai,
Hyderabad, Bangalore and Calcutta," he added. He said
AirAsia would initially invest between 5 and 7 million
RMs to set up infrastructure in India and was confident
that they would do well. "This is an exciting period
for us. I'm looking at a load factor of at least 90
percent for our first flight," he said and added that
it had taken the airline seven years to reach this
stage and with its entry into India, his mission as
CEO was complete. "I had said then that India would
be the last place we need to go to. It is now over
to AirAsia X to grow the business to Japan, South
Korea, Europe and the United States."
-Oct
28, 2008
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