AirAsia India's 6th Aircraft Is Finally Here, Dedicated to Late Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

AirAsia India had grown slowly. Its strategy had been built around a mix of domestic and international flying, and that plan was held back by the long delay in lifting the 5/20 rule, which required an airline to fly domestically for five years and have at least 20 aircraft before flying international. Against that background, the airline received its sixth aircraft at Hyderabad's Shamshabad airport, at the MAS-GMR maintenance facility.

The aircraft

The aircraft carries manufacturer serial number 4346. It previously flew for Indonesia AirAsia as PK-AXL. It has no winglets and was five years and four months old on arrival.

It was re-registered VT-APJ as a tribute to the late Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

This was AirAsia India's third aircraft without winglets. It was also the fourth aircraft in the fleet dedicated to a person or a place. The others were VT-ATF (Tony Fernandes), VT-JRT (JRD Tata) and VT-BLR (Bengaluru).

What it meant for the winter

This was probably the last aircraft the airline would add in calendar 2015, as The Flying Engineer had suggested earlier. It allowed the airline to add capacity for the winter peak, though new sectors or extra frequencies were only likely from mid to late November 2015.

Because routes were being announced late, some of the lowest fares on the network were likely to be found on these flights. Good for passengers, but a drag on the airline's unit revenue.

The airline had begun offering via flights, for example Delhi to Imphal via Guwahati, which it had not sold before. Via flights were expected to help revenue, another point made earlier on this site.

Total costs would rise with a sixth aircraft, but unit costs were expected to fall slightly, which was good for the airline.

The sixth aircraft was likely to be based at Delhi and could connect the capital to Visakhapatnam, alongside other new frequencies and routes.