Page 6 - Air India Express

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,

Bomb threats: Air India Express, Vistara flights make emergency landings

Over the past several days, nearly 40 flights operated by Indian carriers have faced bomb threats, all of which have been hoaxes so far

No bomb found aboard Air India Express plane, says Singapore police

No bomb was found aboard an Air India Express plane which landed in Singapore more than an hour after its scheduled arrival time, the police said on Wednesday. The police said it found no bomb after completing security checks at Changi Airport on the low-cost carrier's aircraft from the Indian city of Madurai. The airline received an e-mail about a bomb on flight AXB684 scheduled to land at Changi Airport in Singapore at 8.50 pm on Tuesday. The flight escorted by two F-15 fighter jets from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) landed at 10.04 pm. The police said they were informed of the bomb threat at 8.25 pm and completed checks after the plane landed, reported The Straits Times. Investigations are ongoing and action will be taken against those who intentionally caused public alarm, the police said. Flight tracker Flightradar24 showed the plane was circling for about an hour east of Singapore before landing. Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in a Facebook post said: Two of our

Singapore scrambles 2 jets to escort A-I Express plane after bomb threat

The Air India Express plane operating flight IX 684 from Madurai to Singapore had received a bomb threat

Tatas set to expand Air India Express fleet with Air India, Vistara planes

Air India Express will receive 17 Airbus A320 Neo planes from Air India and 10 from Vistara after their merger, with the transfer expected to be completed by mid-2025

Air India, Vistara make inflight announcements remembering Ratan Tata

Air India, Air India Express and Vistara are making inflight announcements on Thursday in remembrance of Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata for whom aviation was especially close to his heart. Tata, 86, who was also Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus, breathed his last on Wednesday night at a Mumbai hospital. Officials on Thursday said the three airlines, part of the Tata Group, will be making announcements in remembrance of Tata in their flights during the day. The demise of Tata also comes at a time when the conglomerate is in the process of completing the consolidation of its airline business -- the integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect was completed on October 1 while the merger of Vistara with Air India is set for November 12. Vistara is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson told staff that Air Indians especially acknowledge and are grateful for Tata's immense contribution to Indian aviation and to the Tata ...

Akasa Air to run safety tests on 14 of 25 planes amid rudder issue

Air India Express to also conduct similar audit; SpiceJet says none of its Boeing 737 NGs impacted

AIX Connect's merger into Air India Express is complete, says DGCA

Air India Express' fleet size has grown to 88 aircraft

AI Express-AIX Connect merger key in transformation journey: Wilson

The merger of AIX Connect with Air India Express is an important milestone in the transformation journey of Air India Group and the merged entity will cater to the growing air travel demand, Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday. Wilson is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Air India as well as the Chairman of Air India Express. Aviation regulator DGCA has approved the merger of AIX Connect with Air India Express, which will now focus on future growth and transformation agenda, according to a release. The merged entity will operate under the 'Air India Express' name and a unified airline code 'IX'. With the merger completed, Air India Express will focus on a future growth and transformation agenda. "About a year ago, we started the integration of AIX Connect and Air India Express, bringing the two organisations together behind a common brand. "Alongside, we worked on the complex integration exercise culminating today in the operational and legal merger of the two ...

DGCA grants approval for merger of AIX Connect, Air India Express

Approval process for this merger involved reviewing organizational structures and approvals, ensuring a seamless transfer of aircraft and personnel, and safeguarding the safety of ongoing operations

AI Express to phase out biz class seats by 2025; to have 100 planes by Dec

Air India Express, which is set to complete the merger of AIX Connect with itself next month, will phase out business class seats in its aircraft in 2025, according to a senior airline official. Currently, the carrier, part of Tata Group, has a fleet of 85 aircraft -- 25 A320 family planes and 60 Boeing 737s. By year-end, the total number is expected to be around 100. The airline has 34 white tail Boeing 737-8 aircraft and out of them, 29 have business class seats of varying numbers. Their count will rise to 50 by the end of this year. Generally, white tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline. The airline official told PTI that aircraft with the business class seats will be phased out by reconfiguring them next year as business class does not fit into the Air India Express model. These white tail aircraft have varying number of business class seats, the official added. In the existing fleet of Air India ..

Tata aviation cuts losses by Rs 9,077 cr in FY24, Air India revenue up 24%

Air India, which was privatised in 2022, achieved its highest consolidated revenue of Rs 51,365 crore for FY24, marking a 24 per cent rise from the prior year

Air India's low-cost airline Air India Express posts Rs 163 cr loss in FY24

While the company's total income increased by 33 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 7,600 crore in FY24, its total expenditure grew by 38.3 per cent to Rs 7,763 crore in the same period

DGCA fines Air India Express for non-compliance with compensation rules

The civil aviation ministry introduced a charter of passenger rights in 2019, mandating airlines to inform passengers of any flight cancellation at least two weeks prior to the scheduled departure

DGCA slaps Rs 10 lakh fine on Air India Express for not paying compensation

Aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Air India Express for non-payment of compensation to passengers for cancelled flights. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) carried out an inspection as per Annual Surveillance Programme (ASP) 2024 of scheduled domestic operators in June. This was in respect of norms pertaining to facilities and compensation that are to be provided to passengers. "During the surveillance inspection of the airlines, it was observed that Air India Express was not complying with the provisions of CAR Section-3, Series M, Part IV," DGCA said in a release. Subsequently, a show cause notice was issued to Air India Express. The regulator said the airline's reply revealed that it had not complied with the provisions for providing compensation to passengers affected due to cancellation of flights. For the violations, DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Air India Express. Specific details about the violations could not

Indian carriers almost catch up with Emirates on the Dubai route

According to Cirium, between April and July this year Emirates controlled more than half the seat capacity of 2.3 million and 36 per cent of the 9,410 flights

Air India Express freedom sale: Get fares starting at Rs 1947 from today

Book your flights between now and August 5th for travel until September 30th, 2024.

Air India unveils voluntary retirement, separation schemes before merger

The Tata Group-owned airline introduced voluntary retirement scheme for employees with at least five years of service, and voluntary separation scheme for those with less than five years of service

Tata Group to retain Air India's top management post-Vistara merger

Campbell Wilson will continue as the chief executive officer, with Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma remaining as the chief commercial and transformation officer, and chief financial officer