Page 4 - Air India Express

How a supply glitch gave Air India 50 Boeing jets made for Chinese airlines

Air India Express has received 41 of 50 white-tail 737 Max jets from its June 2023 order of 190 planes- jets built for others but remained unused in storage

SpiceJet, Air India Express gets approved to operate flights from Kathmandu

Two Indian airlines have been allowed to operate regular flights to and from Nepal, according to the Himalayan nation's civil aviation authority. SpiceJet, which had regular flights to Nepal before the COVID-19 pandemic, and Air India Express, making its debut in the country, have received scheduled approval and slots from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), according to Hansa Raj Pandey, spokesperson at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). SpiceJet, which mainly flew from Delhi to Kathmandu before its hiatus, will operate daily flights, while Air India Express has received approval for two flights per day. Currently, Air India and Indigo conduct flights between Nepal and India. With the addition of SpiceJet and Air India Express, there will be four Indian airlines operating regular flights between the two countries. Meanwhile, maintenance work on the taxiway at TIA, which previously required flight suspensions, continued its service without halting flights

Plan to become all-economy airline by April 2026: Air India Express CEO

"The airline aims to carry about 30 million passengers in 2025-26, roughly 50 per cent more year-on-year, as the aircraft inducted in the latter part of 2024-25 will have their full impact in 2025-26"

AI Express to expand virtual interline ties with foreign low-cost carriers

Air India Express plans to have more virtual interline partnerships with foreign low-cost carriers and to deepen its network. The Tata Group-owned airline aims to carry 30 million passengers in 2025-26, higher than 20 million passengers in the current financial year ending March 2025, according to its Managing Director Aloke Singh. Currently, the airline has a fleet of 103 planes comprising 67 Boeing 737s and 36 A320s, and operates around 485 flights daily. Elaborating on the network strategy, he said the airline has grown significantly and the focus is to deepen the network. Among other initiatives, Air India Express will look to have more virtual interline partnerships with foreign low cost carriers and there are six such partnerships at present, Singh said at a briefing on Friday. The virtual interline platform 'AIX Connect' enables travellers to book self-connected itineraries between flights of Air India Express and those of the partner airline. As it pursues growth ...

Air India to cut fares, add new jets and boost reach to woo diaspora

Air India, in order to enhance its appeal, has worked on reducing airport transfer times to within 180 minutes and is further streamlining the travel experience

Supply chain issues may hit aircraft deliveries for 4-5 yrs: Air India CEO

The CEO also said that leasing planes is not an easy solution either

Delhi airport operator takes govt to court over Hindon commercial flights

Indian aviation rules prohibit airports within 150 km of an existing facility, but Hindon airbase is operating just 30 km from Delhi Airport

AI Express adds 100th plane in fleet; aims at 500 daily flights by Mar-end

Air India Express now has 100 planes in its fleet by inducting another Boeing 737-8 aircraft, which operated its first flight on Bengaluru-Hindon route. In a release on Monday, the airline said it will be operating over 500 daily flights by the end of this month across a fast-expanding network of 54 destinations across India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. From a fleet of 26 Boeing 737 NGs and 28 A320 aircraft in January 2022, when the airline was taken over by the Tata Group, the carrier's has almost doubled its fleet to 100 aircraft, according to the release. The 100th aircraft, featuring 'Chittara' tail art inspired by Karnataka's traditional mural painting, was flagged off by the airline's Managing Director Aloke Singh at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. "In just over three years since privatisation, we integrated and merged the LCC (low cost carrier) airlines, while scaling up rapidly with a modern and fuel-efficient fleet, broad basing our domestic network,

DGCA fined Air India Express ₹30 lakh in Dec 2024 for rule violation

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation imposed a financial penalty of Rs 30 lakh in December last year on Air India Express for installing and operating a Boeing aircraft with an external livery without its permission, Parliament was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister for State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the violations of safety norms by the airlines are monitored by the DGCA and based on the severity of the violation, actions are taken. He also said the DGCA carries out surveillance/audits at regular intervals vide published Annual Surveillance Programme (ASP) on needs basis to ensure that continued compliance is maintained by airlines. Violations to the extant rules and regulations are dealt as per enforcement policy and procedure manual and enforcement actions as deemed fit are taken by DGCA, he added. According to the data shared as part of the written reply, a total of 23 enforcement actions were taken by three directorates unde

Air India to roll out key initiatives in 2025, may turn profitable: CEO

Air India will see progress on various key initiatives, including refitting of wide body and narrow body planes, in 2025 as well as tighten practices and processes to ultimately become profitable, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Friday. After taking over the loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022, Tata Group has been working on an ambitious transformation plan to turn around the airline, which recently also placed orders for 100 more aircraft. In his message to the staff on Friday, Wilson said 2024 saw the realisation of some of the most significant milestones, including the completion of the mergers of Air India Express and AirAsia India, and Vistara with Air India that "position us as the fourth largest business, by revenue, in the Tata group". Air India group operates 300 aircraft across both brands, flying over 60 million customers annually to more than 100 destinations in India and around the world. While describing 2024 as a transformative year

Surat-Bangkok flight: Rs 1.8 lakh liquor consumed by 175 flyers in 4 hours

Air India's first direct flight from Surat to Bangkok gains attention for alleged consumption of 15 litres of alcohol

AI Express inaugural Surat-Bangkok flight records brisk liquor sales

Air India Express' inaugural four-hour flight from Surat in Gujarat to Thailand capital Bangkok saw good sales of liquor onboard, with some passengers claiming the stock ran out. The flight, operated with a Boeing 737-8 aircraft on Friday, had 175 passengers and six crew members onboard. The passenger capacity of the plane is 176. Liquor consumption is prohibited in Gujarat. Officials of the budget airline on Sunday said there were brisk sales of alcohol on the flight from Surat to Bangkok and the stock was not exhausted, as claimed by some on social media. Some passengers had taken to social media, saying the airline ran out of liquor. There was sufficient stock of liquor as well as food onboard, the officials added. There was no official statement from the Tata Group-owned Air India Express. According to the officials, generally, a passenger is not served more than 100 ml of liquor during a flight. The airline offers five types of liquor onboard. A 50 ml of Chivas Regal is p

Air India orders 34 trainer craft for cadet pilots at planned flying school

The order includes 31 single-engine aircraft from Piper Aircraft in the United States and 3 twin-engine aircraft from Diamond Aircraft in Austria

Air India Express to add 65 planes, Air India 35 in next three years

Presently, Air India Express operates a fleet of approximately 90 aircraft, whereas full-service airline Air India has around 210 planes

Air India Express expands, defers Kolkata-Dhaka direct flight plans

Air India Express, the budget-carrier arm of Air India, is embarking on a significant expansion by increasing its fleet size and introducing new routes, as passenger growth remains robust. The airline, however, has deferred plans to launch direct flights between Kolkata and Dhaka, citing the ongoing political crisis in Bangladesh. "You would recall we had announced our operational plan for Dhaka, which is a new and significant market for us. But because of the situation there, we have deferred those plans," Aloke Singh, Managing Director of Air India Express, said. "As soon as the conditions are right, we will resume those plans," he said. The airline had initially planned to launch the Dhaka services in September with six weekly flights. Despite the deferment, Singh said the airline remains committed to expanding its presence in the eastern sector. He said its international service flights to and from Kathmandu would begin with the summer schedule, starting the end of March ...

Air India Express announces launch of 4 new routes from Bhubaneswar

Air India Express on Tuesday announced the launch of four new routes from Bhubaneswar as a part of the airline's expansion plan in eastern India. These services will connect the Odisha capital to Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi and Patna, the airline said in a statement. This expansion reinforces Bhubaneswar's connectivity to key regional and cultural centres across India, it said. The services to Jaipur and Kochi will commence on January 3, 2025, followed by the launch of flights to Lucknow on January 4 and Patna on January 15, the statement said. Bookings are now open. The Bhubaneswar-Jaipur flight will operate four days a week - Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the Bhubaneswar-Kochi and Bhubaneswar-Patna flights will operate daily. The Bhubaneswar-Lucknow flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Additionally, the airline showcased Odisha's cultural heritage with its 'Ikat livery', beautifully displayed on one of its newest aircraft, the airline statement

Air India sees growth from domestic, short int'l flights in 2025: CEO

Air India will see most of the air traffic growth coming from domestic and short-haul international operations in 2025 as more narrow-body planes are joining the fleet and legacy wide-body aircraft will be going for retrofit next year, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Thursday. The Tata Group-owned airline, which has embarked on a five-year transformation journey, expects to have a fleet of 400 planes by 2027. Currently, the total fleet strength of Air India Group, including Air India Express, is around 300 aircraft. During a select media briefing, Wilson, who has been at the helm of Air India for more than two years, said the airline group has a domestic market share of around 29 per cent and 55 per cent on the metro to metro routes. On top 120 domestic routes, the market share is about 40 per cent, he said. According to him, the retrofit of legacy wide-body aircraft will start in early 2025. "We had hoped to start retrofit of 787s and 777s by now. Unfortunately, the

AI Express to reconfigure planes with biz class seats from April 2025

Air India Express plans to start reconfiguration of planes having business class seats from April 2025, as the airline focuses on operating narrow-body planes with only economy class seats, according to a senior official. The Tata Group-owned airline that merged AIX Connect with itself on October 1, has rationalised its network and currently has an operational fleet of 90 planes, including over 30 aircraft with dual-class seats. Amid supply chain woes impacting fresh aircraft deliveries, the airline has, so far, inducted 35 white-tail Boeing 737-8 planes. Their count will rise to 50 in the coming months. Many of these white-tail aircraft have varying numbers of business-class seats. Generally, white-tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline. The senior airline official said it will start reconfiguration of the aircraft having business class from April onwards. The carrier wants to offer only economy class s

Air India Express to reconfigure planes with biz class seats from Apr 2025

Air India Express plans to start reconfiguration of planes having business class seats from April 2025, as the airline focuses on operating narrow-body planes with only economy class seats, according to a senior official. The Tata Group-owned airline that merged AIX Connect with itself on October 1 has rationalised its network and currently has an operational fleet of 90 planes, including over 30 aircraft with dual-class seats. Amid supply chain woes impacting fresh aircraft deliveries, the airline has, so far, inducted 35 white-tail Boeing 737-8 planes. Their count will rise to 50 in the coming months. Many of these white-tail aircraft have varying numbers of business-class seats. Generally, white-tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline. The senior airline official said it will start reconfiguration of the aircraft having business class from April onwards. The carrier wants to offer only economy class se

AI Express plans more international flights; aims for 110 planes by Mar '25

Expanding its network and tapping group synergies, Air India Express will focus on connecting smaller cities and towns with metros as well as fly to new overseas destinations, according to senior officials. The airline, which recently completed the merger of AIX Connect with itself, has a fleet of around 90 aircraft and the count is expected to cross 110 by the end of this fiscal. It also aims to fly to a total of 55 destinations by the end of March 2025 and has also rationalised its network as part of Air India Group strategy. Apart from adding domestic routes, the Tata Group-owned airline will start flights to more foreign destinations, including Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, the officials said. Air India Express Managing Director Aloke Singh said the airline will focus on Tier 2 and 3 cities and towns as they are the growth engines, and the largest chunk of the market is metro to non-metro. "On the regional short haul international network, it will be primarily from Tier 2,