AirAsia India to start Delhi flights in March

Expects to break even on addition of its sixth aircraft in May

AirAsia India would launch service from Delhi in March and hopes to break even with the addition of its sixth aircraft in May, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Mittu Chandilya said on Tuesday.

The airline initially planned to break even in four-five months but had gone slow on its expansion.

AirAsia India began its service from Bengaluru in June and has three aircraft at present. It will add a fourth plane in the next three weeks. It also plans to introduce wifi and video-streaming service on flights.

The airline plans to launch Delhi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Goa services in its summer schedule and will also introduce red eye flights (wee-hour flights).

While airlines in India have flown red eye flights on routes such as Mumbai-Delhi, AirAsia plans to start red eye flights to Pune, Jaipur and other cities.

“We hope to break even after adding the sixth plane. We have already started generating positive cash flows. The positive cash flow is not because of discounts from Bengaluru airport that add up to only 0.75 per cent of our costs. Our flight occupancy is good,” he added. The airline will have a fleet of 13 aircraft by December 2015.

Initially, the airline had decided not to fly to Delhi and Mumbai due to high costs but changed its plans.