Dubai: AirAsia wants to one day use its new India hub to springboard its Southeast Asian hubs into Europe and Africa.
“I see India in a different way than most people see India … there’s no reason why India cannot be a hub into Europe and Africa,” the airline’s Group Chief Executive, Tony Fernandes, told Gulf News in an interview on Wednesday.
Fernandes was in Dubai this week to speak at the Africa Global Business Forum.
AirAsia India, the group’s latest offshoot, launched flights from its Bengaluru hub in June. The airline fist planned to target second and third tier cities, however, recently made headlines when it announced it is looking at Mumbai and Delhi.
“The entire [Indian] airline industry has kind of ganged up on us … It means that they know we can do something,” said Fernandes.
Fernandes admits the entry of AirAsia X, the group’s long-haul budget offshoot, into the Indian market is a long way off and that he will first focus on building AirAsia India’s domestic network. The Indian offshoot has a domestic operator’s licence and is not allowed to fly overseas from India. Instead, Fernandes said he will feed traffic into India from his airline’s hubs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Asked about future domestic routes in India, Fernandes said he is looking at “some cities in the north east” but declined to state further details. He also said the focus will be being a big player on “big routes” like Mumbai and Delhi.
“It’s more about frequency on less routes,” he said
But the airline will also need more than the six A320s it is expected to have by the end of 2014 if it is to make a dent in the highly competitive Indian market.
“I hope in the not too distant future to have 20 planes,” he said.
AirAsia deferred aircraft orders for 17 Airbus A320’s this year and is unlikely to take anymore aircraft from its massive 300 order until late 2016 with Fernandes holding out for the more fuel efficient new engine, or “neo,” model. He said his airlines will instead look to the leasing market to fulfill their immediate expansion plans.
