Hyderabad: Air Asia’s Group CEO Tony Fernandes on Wednesday said that he has applied for the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, a development that could potentially alter the shareholding pattern of his Indian JV.
“My father was an Indian. He had an Indian passport... I have already applied for a OCI last week... Then I will be the same as everyone else... I will be the same as Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways chairman),” he said while criticising Indian aviation policy, which restricts local airline from flying abroad until it meets certain criteria and puts a cap on foreign investment.
He asked why should the government bother about the company’s origin until it creates jobs. “What is important (to look at) is if it is creating jobs, is it creating investments, increasing tourism in India as opposed to where I am from... Most of the promoters of Indian airlines are not in India. Naresh Goyal is in London, SpiceJet promoter I heard is most of the time in the US, IndiGo has tonnes of Americans, GoAir is in Turkey.” If Mr Fernandez gets OCI status, his share will be considered as Indian shareholding.
AirAsia has been critical of India’s 5/20 policy, which disallows Indian airlines from flying abroad until it operated on domestic routes for five years or has a fleet of 20 aircraft. The Malaysia-based low frills airline has entered Indian market a couple of years ago in partnership with the Tata Group and Arun Bhatia. It has a fleet of six aircraft and planning to two more in a few months. “We will be adding two aircraft in 4-5 months,” he said.
