Air Asia in India

There seem to be reasonable chances now that Air Asia will fly-into India, that is. Why it should cause any consternation among certain quarters is beyond me. I think Air Deccan was the best thing to have happened to an Indian consumer in a long time. It made flying so affordable that a large chunk of their customers were first time flyers.

With the exit of Kingfisher, we are reaching a stage where a monopolistic cartel seems to be running the skies, which is bad news for customers. Someone like Air Asia can revitalise the sector from a consumer's viewpoint.

Whether they make a profit or not would depend on their business model and practices. That should not be our concern, since Air India is still flying with taxpayer's subsidy. What we must keep in mind is the benefit to large numbers of customers who would be able to fly when they need to.

Similar anti-consumer activism was seen when FDI in retail was being debated. I am quite certain if the consumer knew what Wal-Mart could offer him, he would have been very happy. Especially the poorer customer, or the lower middle class one who pinches pennies to meet his monthly budgets.

Hope we have a choice of low-cost airline services soon, instead of just one or two.