Air Asia starts Bangalore-Kochi bookings at Rs500; flights from 20 July

AirAsia India, continuing to trigger price wars in the Indian aviation market, has announced flights between Bangalore and Kochi from next month with a limited offer of an all-inclusive fare of Rs500.

Just four days after breaking into the Indian domestic aviation space, the airline said it will start daily flights between Bangalore and Kochi from 20 July.

The fledgling airline's India chief executive Mittu Chandilya said, "We have done a complete analysis on our third destination and we are confident that we will be able to reach out to more first-time fliers.

"We will stand by our promise to deliver a quality product to our guests that promises value for their money. We are very encouraged by outstanding reception to our product and service."

AirAsia India will operate twice-daily flights on the Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore route from 19 June, besides the daily flight between Bangalore and Goa.

The no-frill carrier is a 49:30:21 joint venture between Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia Berhad, Tata Sons, and Telstra Tradeplace, controlled by Arun Bhatia.

AirAsia India would focus on connecting tier-II cities offering fares about 35 per cent lower than the prevailing market rates, Chandilya had earlier said.

Air Asia India's advent has forced the country's other carriers like IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir to offer comparable discounts on the same routes. But Air India Express, and JetLite, the country's other two 'budget' carriers, have not yet declared their intentions in this regard.