FOLLOWING a strategic review of its operations (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 28, 2013), AirAsia has decided not to launch flights from Singapore to India and China.
According to an earlier press statement, AirAsia claims that routes less than three hours allow better revenue returns due to more sectors flown.
The carrier’s CEO Tony Fernandes said: “Routes originating out of Singapore to larger-population countries like China and India tend to be more than five hours, hence AirAsia’s decision not to proceed with any venture there in the foreseeable future.”
Most major Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai are approximately a five-hour flight from Singapore or the rest of South-east Asia.
Anil Punjabi, chairman-east, Travel Agents Federation of India, said: “The current connectivity AirAsia offers to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur from Kolkata has been very useful for our inbound and outbound tourist traffic. It is possible that AirAsia may look at a presence in India in the near future as all flights within India to neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are all of less than three hours’ flight time.”
* Our article initially stated that AirAsia would be ceasing its flights to China and India, which was factually incorrect and has been amended.
