Air Asia and the Tata group: Clear Skies Ahead

Abstract

India was a huge market with great potential and opportunity for the airline industry. Air Asia found it enticing and attractive to enter this market. The Indian aviation industry was saturated with six other players with all except one struggling to stay afloat when Air Asia chose to enter. However Air Asia held a unique position in South Asia due to 12 years of prior success. Air Asia India would now need to evaluate and carefully plan strategies to consider replicating its business model, beat rivals and gain market share based on the low cost carrier (LCC) framework. The case poses two major debatable questions: how would Air Asia’s partnerships work in India and what due diligence is needed to understand the dynamics of the Indian playing field. Air Asia needed to capitalize on its strengths to face the incessant challenges to gain a piece of the Indian airline industry pie. The case delves into Air Asia’s entry into India and raises questions on the uncertainty that surrounds the entry and concurrently throws open the debate of when and how Air Asia India would succeed.