AirAsia readies to launch an Indian airline in partnership with Tata
Skift Take
AirAsia will be the first foreign carrier to launch a new airline in India and could spur similar ventures as the country’s airline industry starts seeing the impact of eased investment rules enacted this fall.
AirAsia Bhd., Southeast Asia’s biggest budget airline, plans to start a venture in India with the Tata Group after the government eased rules to lure investment in a country where air travel is set to triple.
AirAsia made an application to India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board to take 49 percent in a venture with Tata Sons Ltd., owners of Jaguar Land Rover luxury vehicles, and Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace Pvt. Subject to an approval, the partners will then seek an air operators permit, the low-fare carrier said in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.
The move will help AirAsia get an entry into a nation where economic growth is encouraging more people to ditch trains for planes, helping triple the number of domestic air travelers to 159 million annually by 2021, according to government estimates. To help an industry mired in debt and lo
