Air Asia, the designated low-cost airline of Malaysia, is planning to start operations in India, and is awaiting guidelines from the government on the proposal.

"We were earlier contemplating charter services to India. But after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the 'open sky' policy, we are weighing the option of starting scheduled low-cost operations in the country," said Haridas Pillai, senior director, operations, Air Asia.

Pillai added that formal talks with the civil aviation ministry would commence once the government issued clear guidelines on the open skies offer.

Pillai said the airline was looking at south India as a lucrative market, and was keen to start flights to Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi.

The Malaysian cities the airline will connect are Penang, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur.

If Air Asia is given flight rights to India, it will be the first low-cost carrier flying to the country. On an average, the fares on Air Asia are about 80 per cent lower than normal economy class fares on Malaysia Airlines.

A printed economy class fare from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur is approximately Rs 22,000. Air Asia's fares on an average are Rs 380 for 45 minutes, and Rs 790 for two hours.

Vajpayee had announced an open sky policy for Asean nations last month, wherein designated airlines of these countries could operate daily flights to the metros.

The airlines could also start operations to 18 non-metro destinations identified by the government. The civil aviation ministry is working on formalising the modalities of the proposal.