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AIX Connect, formerly known as AirAsia India, is an Indian
low-cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
headquartered in
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
(Bengaluru),
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
and a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Air India Limited Air India Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tata Group. It is headquartered at the Airlines House in New Delhi. It was previously a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Civil Aviation. It was incor ...
which in turn is owned by
Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...
. The airline was founded as a joint venture between
Tata Sons Tata Sons Private Limited is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants. It is a privately owned conglomerate of ...
and
AirAsia Bhd Capital A Berhad, () operating as AirAsia (stylized as ''airasia'') is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations. AirAsia operate ...
and commenced operations in June 2014 with Bangalore as its primary operating base. From 2020 to 2022, AirAsia Bhd gradually disinvested its shares in the joint venture and sold them to Tata Sons. In December 2022, after the entire shares of AirAsia India was acquired by Tata Sons, the airline was renamed ''AIX Connect'' ahead of its merger with
Air India Express Air India Express is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. It is operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian flag carrier airline Air India. It operates around 649 flights per week to 33 desti ...
. The AirAsia India brand was retired on 31 October 2023, and the airline now operates flights for Air India Express.


History

In February 2013, with the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
allowing a
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
of up to 49% in airlines,
AirAsia Berhad Capital A Berhad, () operating as AirAsia (stylized as ''airasia'') is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations. AirAsia operate ...
applied to the Indian
Foreign Investment Promotion Board The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was a national agency of Government of India, with the remit to consider and recommend foreign direct investment (FDI) which does not come under the automatic route. India attract net inward foreign d ...
(FIPB) seeking approval for commencing its operations in India. In March 2013, AirAsia announced that it would establish a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with
Tata Sons Tata Sons Private Limited is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants. It is a privately owned conglomerate of ...
and Telestra Tradeplace with Tata Sons representing the airline with two non-executive directors in the board. The airline planned to operate with the world's lowest unit cost of per available seat kilometre and a passenger break-even load factor of 52%. It also planned to
hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...
100% of its fuel requirements for the first three years and to achieve an aircraft turnaround time of 25 minutes. AirAsia planned to begin operations in various tier 2 and tier 3 cities with
Chennai International Airport Chennai International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu and its metropolitan area. It is located in Tirusulam, southwest of the city centre. Chennai International Airport is the sixth busiest air ...
as its main operating base. According to
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
, the introduction of AirAsia was expected to cause another
price war A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the c ...
, ultimately leading to an increase in air traffic and some consolidation in the Indian aviation sector. AirAsia initially invested an amount of 50 million and in preparation for its operations in India, it struck deals with online and offline travel agents. On 3 March 2013, the FIPB officially permitted AirAsia to rent or lease aircraft and to carry cargo on its scheduled flights. The airline then applied for permission to schedule aircraft and transport passengers, which the FIPB accepted on 6 March. AirAsia India was established on 28 March 2013 and became the first foreign airline to set up a subsidiary in India. In April, the airline started recruiting candidates for pilots and cabin crew. As the final procedure to obtain Air Operator Permit, a proving flight was conducted on 1 and 2 May 2014 flying from
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
to
Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
,
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
and
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. On 7 May 2014, the DGCA issued an Air Operator Permit to the company. On 30 May 2014, the airline announced the shifting of its base to Bangalore and its first flight from there to Goa. AirAsia operated its maiden flight on 12 June 2014. In June 2015, the airline made
Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi __NOTOC__ Indira may refer to: People * Indira (name) Films and books * ''Indira'', an 1873 novella by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee * ''Indira'' (film), directed by Suhasini Manirathnam * ''Indira'' (1989 film), a Hindi film (Hema malini as Indir ...
its secondary hub for North Indian operations. In August 2015, Tata Sons increased its stake to 40.06% from 30% earlier by injecting fresh equity while Telestra's share was reduced to 10% from 20%. As of July 2019, AirAsia India was the fifth largest low-cost carrier in India, behind
IndiGo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
,
SpiceJet SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fli ...
,
Star Air (India) Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. doing business as Star Air, is an Indian commuter airline based at Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore, Karnataka. It started operations in January 2019, offering flights within Karnataka state as well ...
, and
GoAir Go First, founded as GoAir, is an Indian ultra-low-cost airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by the Indian business conglomerate Wadia Group. In October 2017, it was the fifth largest airline in India with an 8.4% passenger mar ...
, with a market share of 7.1%. In January 2018, then-managing director and chief executive Amar Abrol announced plans for the company to expect a fleet of 21 aircraft by the year's end, making it eligible to operate overseas flights. In July 2020, AirAsia India launched an aviation analytics app that would help enhance the operational efficiency of the airline by monitoring and helping manage aircraft turnaround between flights with data analytics in real-time. On 29 December 2020,
AirAsia Berhad Capital A Berhad, () operating as AirAsia (stylized as ''airasia'') is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations. AirAsia operate ...
announced that it would sell a 32.67% stake in AirAsia India to Tata Sons for $37.7 million, including a provision to sell the remaining 16.33% stake for $18.8 million. Tata Sons acquired
Air India Limited Air India Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tata Group. It is headquartered at the Airlines House in New Delhi. It was previously a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Civil Aviation. It was incor ...
on 8 October 2021. The Tata Group requested approval from the
Competition Commission of India The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition a ...
(CCI) to merge AirAsia India with Air India Limited in April 2022, which was granted on 14 June 2022. On 2 November 2022, AirAsia Berhad sold the remaining 16.33% stake to Tata Sons. However, the AirAsia brand could still be used for twelve months. AirAsia India added the gender-neutral honorific Mx as a third option for passengers booking tickets from June 2022. On 19 May 2023, AIX Connect operated India's first commercial flight using indigenously produced
sustainable aviation fuel An aviation biofuel or bio-jet fuel Note: About">Investable Universe>About' or bio-aviation fuel (BAF) is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is said to be a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) co ...
from
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
to
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
.


Name change and merger with Air India Express

In June 2022, the Competition Commission of India approved Air India's proposal to acquire the 16.33% stake of Malaysian partner AirAsia Berhad in AirAsia India. Subsequently, Air India signed agreements in November 2022 to acquire AirAsia India and announced its plans to merge the carrier with
Air India Express Air India Express is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. It is operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian flag carrier airline Air India. It operates around 649 flights per week to 33 desti ...
. By an agreement with AirAsia Bhd, after its sale to the Tatas, the airline had to stop using the AirAsia branding by November 2023. Hence, the airline changed its name to AIX Connect in December 2022. On 27 March 2023, Air India integrated the reservations system and customer interface of its two low-cost subsidiary airlines - Air India Express and AirAsia India, in a move to consolidate its airline entities. The process largely involved Air India Express migrating to the systems used by AirAsia India. Passengers will now be able to make and manage bookings, and check-in to AirAsia India and Air India Express domestic and international flights, on an all-new integrated website. In July 2023, AIX Connect received regulatory approvals to operate its flights under the ‘Air India Express’ branding, effectively allowing the airline to operate, market, and distribute their flights as Air India Express. Air India entered into a codeshare pact with AIX Connect in September 2023, covering more than 100 flights a day on 21 routes. The aircraft of AIX Connect will be transferred to Air India Express
Air Operator Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...
(AOC). In October 2023, VT-ATJ, an Airbus A320neo became the first to transfer into the Air India Express fleet after completing the DGCA’s CAP3100 process.


Corporate affairs

AirAsia India is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Prior to the airline's formation,
Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commerci ...
, founder of AirAsia group, announced that he would like
Ratan Tata Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. ...
to be the chairman of the airline; however the latter refused, though he later consented to be the chief advisor to the AirAsia India management board. On 15 May 2013, AirAsia India appointed management consultant Mittu Chandilya as CEO. A month later, on 17 June,
S. Ramadorai Subramanian Ramadorai, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 6 October 1945) was the adviser to the Prime Minister of India in the national council on skill development, Government of India. He held the rank equivalent to an In ...
, the non-executive vice-chairman of
Tata Consultancy Services Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company with its headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 locations across 46 countries. In July ...
, was appointed as the chairman of the airline. In April 2016, Amar Abrol replaced Mittu Chandilya as the CEO of the airline. In June 2018, Amar Abrol reportedly quit and in October 2018, AirAsia India announced that Sunil Bhaskaran had been appointed managing director and CEO of the airline. Former chairman of the
Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...
Cyrus Mistry Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (4 July 1968 – 4 September 2022) was an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of the Tata Group, an Indian business conglomerate, from 2012 to 2016. He was the sixth chairman of the group, and only the second (af ...
alleged that there were corporate governance lapses between the two joint venture partners.


Destinations

AIX Connect operates over 200 daily flights connecting 19 destinations across India.


Codeshare agreements

AIX Connect has
codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...
s with the following airlines: *
Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...


Fleet

, AIX Connect (formerly known as ''AirAsia India'') operates the following all-Airbus fleet:


See also

*
List of airlines of India This is a list of airlines which have an air operator's certificate issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India. Scheduled airlines Currently, 9 scheduled airlines are operating in India. Regional airlines Charter a ...


References


External links

* {{Tata Group AirAsia Airlines of India Low-cost carriers Airlines established in 2013 2013 establishments in Karnataka Tata Sons subsidiaries Tata Airlines Indian companies established in 2013