AirAsia India expands its flight operations in India

Earlier last week, a top official of AirAsia India reported that the carrier has charted out expansion plans to connect more tier-II and III cities and set a target to commence flights to overseas destinations by January 2019. This statement followed the induction of AirAsia’s 16^th aircraft and the addition of Nagpur and Indore to its list of destinations.

According to AirAsia India, Managing Director and CEO, Amar Abrol, the airliner has planned to commence overseas operation by January 2019 once it has 20 or more planes. “Our strategy is that once we get to 20 planes (operating in domestic operations) we will start flying international. Mostly, it will be to South East Asian countries,” he told.

A spokesperson of AirAsia told that the expansion plans were adopted to survive the competitive aviation market. He stated, “One has to evolve in a competitive market to stay relevant. Many of our flyers are first time flyers and we plan to tap this and make it a sustainable relationship. To do so, we have to connect more destinations that were still untapped by our flights and more importantly expand our operations overseas. Even though there is existing competition but the demand is there.”

Amar Abrol stated that the plan is to connect more and more tier II and III cities in India, wherever A320 can go and also start flying international after crossing 20 aircraft. Elaborating, he said, the company would serve those markets which were already connected by the airliner’s group entities—AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Thailand. “We will be flying mostly to Malaysia, Indonesia, and neighbouring SAARC countries as well. Bangladesh, Nepal and so on and so forth,” he said.

Closely following the announcement of expansion, AirAsia India expanded its fleet size to 18 planes with the induction of a new Airbus A320, which will help it add new routes and enhance the frequency between Kolkata and Bagdogra.