First aircraft of AirAsia India lands in Chennai

NEW DELHI: AirAsia India, the tripartite joint venture of AirAsia Berhard, Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace promoted by Arun Bhatia, took another step towards launch as the airline took delivery of its first aircraft in Chennai on Saturday. The aircraft, an Airbus A320 configured in an all economy seating arrangement with 180 seats, is registered as VTATF.

The aircraft is equipped with sharklets or folded wingtips that help reduce drag making the plane more fuel efficient. The airline is still awaiting an air operator’s permit from the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. However, the airline had already received approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to import 10 Airbus A320-200 aircraft in December last year.

The DGCA, which dismissed the objections raised collectively by all airlines in India last month, is currently in the final stages of technical due diligence for AirAsia’s application for an air operator’s permit. A senior DGCA official said the due diligence is expected to be completed in a week and the permit will be given before the general elections.