AIRASIA TO FLY TO INDIA FROM DEC 1

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Bhd will fly to India beginning Dec 1 with its inaugural flight to Thiruchi in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

AirAsia's group chief executive officer, Tony Fernandes, said the airline
expected a huge growth from Indian tourism to contribute to its new
route.

"I anticipate very high load factor for this flight (probably) about 90
percent from the first week, which should probably be the strongest route we
have ever done," he told a media briefing here Monday. Air Asia is Malaysia's
leading budget airline.

He said there was a huge potential for the airline as Thiruchi was the
fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu with a population of 1.6 million.

Thiruchi, famous for its fusion architecture and monuments, will be the
first destination for AirAsia, before it embarks on nine other locations in
India within the next one-and-a-half years.

Other routes include Madras, Cochin, Madurai and Kovaibutore while for
AirAsia X, they are looking at New Delhi, Mumbai and Hydrabad.

Tony said to cater to the new routes, the carrier would be spending about
RM5 to RM7 million for new infrastructure including the opening of an office in
Thiruchi.

Booking for the flight, which will be on a daily basis, will start on
Wednesday midnight with offer price starting from RM49 while an average fare
price of RM200 for one-way flight. (US$1=RM3.5)

For India, AirAsia would be using 10 A320 planes.
-- BERNAMA


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