AirAsia India's Proving Flights Take Off

AirAsia India's first and only Airbus A320-216SL, registered VT-ATF, took off on its first proving flight at 07:08 GMT (12:38 IST), after a 32 minute pushback delay. The sectors for the day were Chennai to Cochin, Cochin to Bangalore and Bangalore to Chennai, each planned with a 25 minute turnaround. Another proving flight was scheduled for the next day, 2 May 2014, but in the airline's interest The Flying Engineer did not reveal the route at the time.

What a proving flight is

A proving flight covers a representative selection of the destinations an airline intends to serve. It can be flown on any sector, even one that never appears in the final schedule, and actual schedules and routes remain subject to DGCA approval.

AirAsia India's proving flights used the ground support already in place where AirAsia Berhad of Malaysia flew. At the time AirAsia Bhd served Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi (Cochin), Kolkata and Tiruchirappalli (Trichy).

The flights followed the successful Main Base Inspection on 19 April 2014, held at Chennai, and the table top exercise, a proving flight readiness check, on 29 April 2014 at Delhi.

What happens on board

A proving flight carries non revenue passengers and cargo, including DGCA personnel and airline staff. One set of crew, two pilots and four cabin crew (two men and two women), operates the flight while the rest of the staff act as passengers. DGCA officials watch how the airline handles normal and non normal events, such as assisting disabled passengers, a passenger falling ill, a cabin fire or unexpected turbulence, all according to the airline's approved Operations Manual. The manual had been approved earlier by the DGCA.

If the DGCA team finds shortcomings in how the airline follows its manual, its procedures or the regulations, another set of proving flights must be flown to show the problems have been fixed.

The airline's timelines

If the proving flights succeeded at the first attempt, the Air Operator Permit was expected in the second week of May 2014. The airline would then need its schedules approved by the DGCA, expected in the second half of May. With schedules approved, fares would be set and the airline formally launched with ticket sales, expected in the first week of June. Selling enough tickets and running marketing campaigns would take a month or two.

On that basis AirAsia India was expected to begin scheduled flights only in July or August 2014.

One interesting detail: AirAsia India had applied for a scheduled passenger air transport permit, not a scheduled regional permit, yet it might stay off Tier I routes and fly only routes the DGCA recognised as regional.

The post noted that this May Day could feel like a mayday for some Indian airlines, which had openly shown discomfort at AirAsia India's arrival.

An edit was made after publication: the phrase route proving flights was changed to proving flights following a clarification to The Flying Engineer from Mittu Chandilya, CEO of AirAsia India.