Air India to add more than 400 weekly flights over the next 6 months

On international routes, Air India plans to operate over 200 weekly flights, of which over 80 have already been added

Air India plans to add more than 400 weekly flights on its domestic and international routes until March 2024 as part of the winter schedule 2023, the Tata group-owned airline said on Friday.

To strengthen its domestic network, Air India would add more than 200 weekly flights over the next six months on the back of expected new aircraft deliveries, Air India said in a release. 

The flights would ply on several routes touching major Indian cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, it added.

On international routes, the carrier plans to operate over 200 weekly flights, of which over 80 have already been added. The airline also plans to add four new international destinations to its network, which will be announced in due course.

The airline has also ramped up the frequency by 25x weekly flights (each way) on eight international routes across points in Southeast Asia, United States, and Europe at the onset of the Winter Schedule 2023.

Weekly frequencies on Mumbai-Singapore has gone up from 7x to 13x, Delhi-Bangkok 7x to 14x, Delhi-Dhaka from 7x to 12x, Delhi-Newark (New Jersey) from 3x to 4x, Delhi-San Francisco from 10x to 11x, Delhi Washington DC from 3x to 4x, Delhi- Copenhagen from 3x to 4x, Delhi-Milan from 4x to 5x, Mumbai-Doha from 7x to 9x.

Commenting on the development, Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer and managing director of Air India, said, “While modernising our fleet and introducing new products and services is a top priority in Air India’s ongoing transformation journey, we are equally focused on densifying and expanding our route network to capture the rapidly growing demand in the market. The next few months are exciting for Air India and our guests, indeed.”

Meanwhile, the airline has opened flights on four new routes, including Bengaluru-Singapore, Kochi- Doha, Kolkata-Bangkok, and Mumbai-Melbourne. 

Between now and March 2024, the airline expects to induct over 30 widebody and narrowbody aircraft to its fleet, including six A350s, four B777s and 20 A320neos.