Air Asia chief executive Tony Fernandes has called Kingfisher Airlines "bad biryani", which you don't see much in India.

When asked what the learnings from Kingfisher Airlines experience were, Tony Fernandes said: "Focus. I have said it to Vijay many times. This is damn bloody tough business. People saw me running around in a T-shirt and a cap and said well if that Indian guy can do it then I can. Vijay was one of the many billionaires who got into the airline business, but it is a very, very tough business. You can lose a fortune very quickly. You have to be meticulous and it needs focus. The Air Asia model has been the same for 11 years. We did not even think about India because we knew we would get killed in the early stages. Vijay went from a low-cost to a premium, to a long-haul airline, to a short-haul airline, to a turbo prop with the buying of Air Deccan. You know it was like a biryani. It was all mixed up. It was bad biryani which India does not have much of."

Mr. Fernandes also said that notions about the Indian bureaucracy were a myth. He said: "There is a myth about Indian bureaucracy. I have not seen it. We don't have any problems with the bureaucracy."

(You need to login first to read complete news).
New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News