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Malaysia's Air Asia and Indian Tata group's joint venture AirAsia India's maiden flight took off from Bangalore city of India's southern state of Karnataka on Thursday afternoon amid court dispute between one of its Indian stake holders and a major BJP politician, local media reported.
The maiden flight is expected to fuel a cut-throat fare war in a sector already reeling from losses.
However, hours after AirAsia India launched its maiden flight, Tata Sons, a stakeholder in the carrier, accused "vested interests, inimical to free and fair competition" of "spreading canards to jeopardise the operations".
The Tatas, a partner in the new low-cost carrier with Malaysia' s AirAsia and Arun Bhatia's Telestra Tradeplace, came out with a strong reaction to BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's charges against Air Asia India, terming them as "misleading".
In a statement, the company said that Air Asia India has received all permission from the Indian government and the director general of Civil Aviation to start operations. Despite various accusation made, amongst others, by Swamy, no injunctions were ordered by any court on the issue.
"The Delhi High Court is seized of the matter and AAI and Tata Sons shall honor its ruling," the company statement said.
"Vested interests, inimical to free and fair competition that can benefit air travelers, are spreading canards to jeopardise the operations of Air Asia India. New airlines, like AAI, will immensely benefit consumers, making air travel more affordable. This has already been witnessed in movements in air fares in the last two weeks, thereby helping to expand the growth of civil aviation in the country," Tata Sons said.
Swamy has made allegations pertaining to Indian Rotorcraf Ltd ( IRL), the Tata Sons' joint venture with AgustaWestland (AW) of England, that Ratan N. Tata was summoned by an Italian criminal court in relation to the sale of AgustaWestland helicopters to India.
"Tata Sons clarifies that Ratan N. Tata was not summoned by the Italian criminal court. He voluntarily appeared as a witness, at the request of Guiseppe Orsi, former CEO of Agusta Westland," the company said, adding that the company made it clear that IRL has no connection whatsoever with AW's supply of AW101 military helicopters to India.
The AW was accused of bribing Indian Congress-led government officials through an Italian agent to sell the helicopters.
AirAsia India's inaugural flight started from the high-tech hub of Bangalore to the popular coastal resort of Goa.
The airline is offering a promotional fare of 990 rupees (15.6 U.S. dollars) for flights between the two cities -- cheaper than a second-class train ticket.
While AirAsia holds a 49 percent stake in the joint venture, the Tata Group and Telestra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd hold 30 percent and 21 percent stakes, respectively.
Malaysia-based AirAsia already operates international routes into the Indian cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata and Trichy. AirAsia's domestic Indian operation began with just one plane servicing one route, but it aims to scale up to 10 planes and 10 cities by the end of the fiscal year in March 2015.
