Says also looking at insurance foray.
Tony Fernandes, the CEO of low-cost Malaysian carrier AirAsia, which is launching operations in India, on Wednesday kicked up dust by blaming “vested interests” for tardy progress in the Indian aviation sector.
“It is a shame that India has lost many years. See what new airlines in the region have done. India has lost because of vested interests even though it has a lot of talent and economic activities,” Fernandes said.
He was reacting to Janata party leader Subramanian Swamy’s letter to the Prime Minister, which termed the company’s deal with the Tata group for a new airline as “fraudulent”.
Fernandes also trashed the policy where carriers have to wait five years before flying internationally, saying that India is the only country where he has seen such a “bizarre rule”.
“Most of these negativities come from within the industry and ultimately fail the people. It is an incredibly self-interested industry,” he said.
He said this is the “right time” to invest in India and that with its 1.3 billion population, the country could be AirAsia’s largest operation, even though the aviation industry here still lags its Asian counterparts.
The carrier plans to kick off its India operations with an initial investment of $30 million (Rs 180 crore), he said.
AirAsia India is a joint venture of Air Asia, Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace with 49:30:21 holding.
The company plans to commence operations in India by October. The head office will be in Chennai, but the company will have bases in other southern cities such as Bangalore and Kochi.
“Malaysian men have many wives, so we can have many bases also,”said Fernandes. He said the airline has hired 60 of the 200-strong crew it would need to start operations in India.
Fernandes said he is also considering a foray into the insurance sector through his Tune Money venture.
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