Saturday, December 19, 2009

AirAsia plans more routes in India

15 December 2009

KUALA LUMPUR — Asia’s leading low-cost airline AirAsia is planning to expand its route network in India, particularly in a market that no other airline is serving directly.

Its regional head of commercial, Kathleen Tan, said destinations on the budget carrier’s network radar included Chennai, Hyderabad, Banglore and Mumbai.

“Moving forward, we are looking into expanding our route network in India and opening up the market,” Tan said in a statement here.

“AirAsia is very committed to expand this market and provide an excellent opportunity to travellers from India to enjoy our revolutionary low fares at 5-star service,” she said.

Commenting on the successful launch of the Kochi-Kuala Lumpur route today, Tan said Kochi is one of AirAsia’s latest Indian destinations alongside Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

She said since opening of the Kochi route two month ago, the airline recorded a strong pick-up with over 82 per cent load factor.

“We have sold approximately 35,000 seats for the route, an evident that the direct daily flights to this route has been long awaited by the general public,” she added.

Tan also said that AirAsia was utilising a new modern fleet of comfortable and spacious Airbus A320 aircraft for all flights to India.

Bernama