AirAsia's early flight plan

The Tata group’s deal with AirAsia to launch a low-cost airline is credited as new scion Cyrus Mistry’s first big deal but it is possible that the talks started at least three years before, when Tony Fernandes’ Malaysian low-cost carrier launched AirAsia X, its long-distance service, in India. At the time, the shrewdly maverick Fernandes told Business Standard as an aside that he was due to meet Ratan Tata the next day, though he insisted it was a courtesy call. “Nice guy?” he asked lazily. Evidently, he thought so going by the deal he’s just signed with the group.