Soon after getting a permit to start operations in India, AirAsia India Chief Executive Officer, Mittu Chandilya, met Business Line . Excerpts from the interview:
You get the lowest fares when you book three months in advance on AirAsia. So launching the airline in India in a month or two does not give you that flexibility?
It’s a part of the game. You need to manage it like a portfolio. You take a hit in a month or two months, but it will be part of the entire process. I did not say a month or two. I said may be. We are ready to launch. But whether we do that is a different thing.
We have, but we will tweak it now.
Why is that?
Because we have to apply for schedules.
How many aircraft do you plan to start with?
Probably three. Then we will ramp up fairly quickly as we get one aircraft a month up till the end of the calendar year.
Till the end of the year, we will remain at six or eight aircraft. Potentially, we will have 11 by the end of the year.
But it depends on when we launch.
Given the Indian rules, you will be able to operate about nine flights with three aircraft?
No, our utilisation is higher.
Indian rules allow three take-offs and landings in a day…
No.
So how many are you doing?
It could be more.
June is traditionally the low season for travel?
I do not believe in high or low seasons. Seasons are what we make them to be. We base our travel on the entire segment of travel—whether they are corporate travellers or luxury travellers, we have all the data.
Will there be any new routes when you launch which are presently not connected by airlines?
Surprise. Yes very likely.
In the first phase with three aircraft?
Very likely.
In the South?
Potentially yes.
Is it the Air Costa model that you are going to follow which opened the Hyderabad-Jaipur route?
They did a great job. The load factors were great, but their aircraft are a bit different.
The load factors and the number of seats they have are different.
I cannot use them as historical data for what we need to do. But they have done a few interesting things.
Such as?
They chose routes that no one else flies.
Are these the kind of routes you will look at?
Yes.
Will there be any tie-up with AirAsia international routes?
Potentially yes.
By when?
If we want to do it, it will be from day one.
How will you sell tickets?
We will sell on our website, online travel agents.
Will you look at ₹1 fares?
Not immediately. I believe our fares are low enough that we do not have to do gimmicks. What we need to do is stimulate growth and generate cash.
How many aircraft currently?
One.
When are the other two aircraft to start operations coming?
When we decide on our launch.