BANGALORE: New entrant to the Indian scheduled air operators’ list, AirAsia India on Friday announced that its maiden flight on Bangalore-Goa route on June 12 will cost just `990 including taxes. The low-cost airline’s offer is likely to trigger another round of fare wars in the aviation sector. “June 12 would be the first flight. It will be A320 (aircraft). The timing of the flight will be around 3 p.m. from Bangalore to Goa, and then back from there (Goa) around 6’0 clock,” Mittu Chandilya, AirAsia CEO said. Agencies had earlier quoted Chandilya as saying that the airfares would be 35% lower than current market fares. The airline was conceived after relaxation of FDI rules by the Central government. Malaysia based AirAsia has partnered with Indian business group Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia of Telstra Tradeplace in a 49:30:21 ratio respectively with an initial investment of $50 million and three A-320s. “Our collective goal is that every Indian should have an opportunity to fly. We have our plane parked here already”, he said.
Low-cost carriers like SpiceJet and Indigo had announced a slew of discounted fares before the entry of AirAsia. On other airlines likely to reduce fares, Chandilya said, “frankly, my view on that is it will help companies to rationalise costs.”