AirAsia India sells out all its promo tickets; CEO blasts ‘envious’ rivals
04 Jun 2014
AirAsia India on Tuesday sold out all 25,000 seats on promotional offer on its Bangalore-Chennai and Bangalore-Goa routes within 48 hours of opening bookings; and its first flight, from Bangalore to Goa on 12 June, was sold out in 10 minutes flat.
AirAsia India CEO, Mittu Chandilya, said, ''We are very excited with the feedback we received from the market. Our motto has always been to make everyone fly and we have already begun to show that we are true to our promise. We will revolutionise the Indian aviation industry with our quality services.
AirAsia had launched a promotional Rs5 basic fare for sale till Sunday, triggering a fare war in the region with IndiGo launching one rupee basic fare on the same routes.
Fernandes meanwhile tweeted recently, "Some airlines scared of us. We must be doing something write (sic). Help us people of India. Don't let cartels win and not let ordinary man fly."
His tweet comes in the backdrop of other domestic airlines represented by Federation of Indian Airlines urging the government to advise the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) not to allow the new no-frill airline to launch operations, claiming that approvals granted to AirAsia India were "illegal". (Read story)
The FIA's letter sent by associate director Ujjwal Dey said, "It is obvious that the actions taken by the last government and more particularly by the DGCA have been to pre-empt a review of this matter by the new government and to proceed with indecent haste ... while foreign investment needs to be encouraged, the same cannot be at the cost of the domestic industry, which is rightly the position of this government as in the case of FDI in retail."
AirAsia India had obtained a permit from Indian regulator, the DGCA last month. Tata Group and Delhi-based investment firm Telestra Tradeplace are AirAsia's partners in the Indian venture along with the Singapore-based Air Asia.
