Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Berhad has been given Overseas Citizenship of India status, which will effectively give him the same powers as a Non Resident Indian (NRI) in terms of shareholding in an airline. NRIs are allowed to hold 100% shareholding in Indian carriers. "I am delighted to share that I have been granted the Overseas Citizenship of India status. India has always been close to my heart as my father was from this country and Goa is my ancestral homeland," Fernandes said in a statement. "My father's posting brought him to Malaysia, but he never stopped talking about Goa and the rest is history.
I landed in Goa for the first time during the inaugural flight of AirAsia India from Bengaluru to Goa and I take immense pride in that. Since then there has been no looking back and AirAsia's commitment to India has only kept growing stronger. We are here with a vision to revolutionize air travel in India and it is also our long term goal to link India to Asean and beyond," he added.
So now Tony can really start to build AirAsia India and he has the opportunity to buyout the 51% holding of Tata Sons in AirAsia India.
This news comes as Indian airline shares continue to fall following the regulation and ATF double whammy of last week; Indian aviation stocks declined again today by an average of 2.9% following proposals to limit air ticket cancellation fees along with a 20% increase in compensation for denied boarding (due to overbooking) and caps on excess baggage fees. The changes will cover domestic and international flights involving Indian carriers. In 2015 there were 4,000 flight cancellations and 63,400 delayed flights.
The baggage fees limit would in fact cut around a third from the current income enjoyed by Indian carriers on average.
Meanwhile U.S. airline shares are falling back at pace, down another 3.4% on average as all major airlines cut their expectations for the coming quarters as fuel costs increase and demand slows.