Malaysian Low cost carrier AirAsia Bhd. is launching flights to Port Blair. This will be the 15th destination for the airline in India, and 17th destination in India from Kuala Lumpur, two being served by AirAsiaX with the A330s. It is now operating to more destinations in India than it did when it had a subsidiary in India as AirAsia India from June 2014, until it was fully sold to the Tata group in 2022. The same is true with capacity. The flights will begin from November 16, 2024, AirAsia said on its website.
The flights are open for sale and begin November 16, 2024.
AK65 KUL1040 – 1020IXZ
AK64 IXZ1055 – 1615KUL
Flights will operate thrice a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and the airline will deploy A320/A320neo on this route. This will also be the only international service out of Veer Savarkar Airport, Port Blair and turns a new page for the islands and the airport.
AirAsia’s India deployment
The two destinations where AirAsia has not returned to India are Goa and Mumbai. It operated to Goa in 2016 while it has attempted Mumbai multiple times, with the last being on the Indonesian subsidiary’s aircraft. In December, the airline will operate 102 weekly frequencies to India, with 94 of those being operated by AirAsia and eight being operated by AirAsia X (4x each to Delhi and Amritsar). The airline was operating 90 weekly departures in February 2020, a month before the lockdown due to the pandemic.
Its current Indian foray seems to stem from the fact that additional rights are not forthcoming and the airline wants to make the most of the current market dynamics, with unlimited rights to 18 destinations in India as part of the India – ASEAN Bilateral Air Services Agreement. These 18 cities are Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Cochin, Thiruvanantapuram, Calicut, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Trichy. Twelve of these would be part of the AirAsia or AirAsia X network. Coupled with Thai AirAsia, the number further goes up. AirAsia entered the India market in late 2008, with a daily flight to Trichy. By December 2009, it was already operating to four points, three of which were part of open skies. Mumbai and Delhi were added in 2010, including moving beyond the Kuala Lumpur hub and offering a flight from Penang to Chennai. Subsequent years saw shrinking of the flights, which included dropping Delhi and Mumbai – which were served with the A340s as part of AirAsia X fleet.
In 2014, AirAsia tied up with Tata group to start a subsidiary in India as AirAsia India which became controversial in no time. The network to India increased from Malaysia, in line with increased bilateral rights between Malaysia and India. In November 2017, it launched a flight to Kolkata from Johor Bahru which borders Singapore.
Read: As Airlines skip hubs, Malaysian carriers build new spokes in India
Below is the look at destiantions in India where AirAsia Bhd. or AirAsia X operates from Kuala Lumpur
Data Source: Cirium – an aviation analytics company
Port Blair – a surprise
Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar islands, does not have any scheduled international services and all past attempts to start have gone in vain. This will be the shortest international route for the airline. Unlike the other routes where the airline has relied on red-eye timings, Port Blair is a day flight due to restrictions on operations. Port Blair airport is a civilian enclave and a naval base. Coupled with the winds, the operating window at Port Blair is limited. Currently, the first arrival into Port Blair is at 0655 hours, while the last departure is at 1435 hours. Port Blair is a winter destination and has seen a new airport terminal being operationalised in the last one year.
The demand remains a mystery for me. Going by the AirAsia press release and advertisement, it seems certain that the airline is trying to sell Port Blair as a destination for Malaysians. Will it be attractive? It needs to be seen.
Network Thoughts
AirAsia is known to try out multiple routes and not all remain forever. For a large network, it is not a bad strategy to have. There are multiple reasons why flights are launched, especially international. All of them sometimes lead to a single point, asking for more rights and allocations within those rights.
With Port Blair, it won’t be surprising if on some days, a Chennai – Port Blair flight is more expensive than the Chennai – Kuala Lumpur – Port Blair offering of AirAsia. India is yet to see return of pre-COVID levels for Foreign Tourist Arrivals, connections like these are helpful to cross those benchmark numbers.
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