Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia's tripartite joint venture with Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia could finally get a scheduled air operator's permit in January, nearly a year after announcing the joint venture. "We should be able to give the permit in the next two months," said Arun Mishra, director general of civil aviation. "They plan to do most of the training in Malaysia. So, we need to go there and certify that."
The new airline, AirAsia India, which plans to keep its operational centre in Chennai, plans to initially operate in Southern India. AirAsia's group chief executive Tony Fernandes had said in March that the airline plans to start operations with around 300 people, three aircraft and focus on the tier II and tier III market in India.
"They need to get the aircraft over so it's difficult to say when they will start flying," Mishra added. Malaysia's AirAsia owns 49% stake in the airline while Tata Sons owns 30% and Arun Bhatia owns 21%.
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