AirAsia Indonesia X, a long-haul unit of budget airline AirAsia, plans to launch a direct service between Indonesia and India, hoping to benefit from rising air travel between the two countries.
BW Businessworld has reliably learnt that the airline is in talks with Indian civil aviation authorities to start the service, which is likely to connect Mumbai with either Jakarta or Bali.
The proposed direct link by the group's Indonesian subsidiary from next year will give a major boost to Indonesia's efforts to attract Indian tourists.
Indonesia aims to double its foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) from India by 2019 in a major push to develop its tourism sector, and recently added India to list of 90 countries whose citizens can get free visa on arrival.
Malaysia-based AirAsia flies to nine Indian cities and provides connections to Southeast Asian destinations via its Kuala Lumpur hub.
The airline is restarting its Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi service, which was discontinued in 2012 due to high operating costs, from February 3 next year. Using an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, it will have four weekly flights - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday - on the Delhi route and compete with Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air.
AirAsia India, the group's Bangalore-based joint venture with Tata Group, operates domestic flights in India.
_20240923191004_original_image_31.webp)
_20240920205457_original_image_22.webp)