India says ‘yes’ to budget airline
AirAsia has been granted approval to set up an Indian budget airline.
The move comes after the Indian government opened up the country’s aviation industry to foreign investors in September last year.
Malaysia-based AirAsia plans to run the new airline in partnership with Mumbai-based Tata and a third Indian investor, Telestra Tradeplace (see earlier story).
The new carrier would be based in Chennai in southern India and would be operated by AirAsia.
Under the proposed deal, AirAsia would own 49% of the new airline, while the two Indian companies would share the remaining stake.
Approval was given by India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board and now AirAsia must get the necessary licences from the country’s aviation regulators.
AirAsia already operates flights into Indian cities including Bangalore, Kochi and Chennai.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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