Air India Express looking to operate 40pc more flights next fiscal

Low-cost carrier Air India Express is looking to operate 40 percent more flights next fiscal on the back of fleet expansion, sources said. At the same time, the airline will focus more on consolidating on the domestic routes and will not be adding many destinations, while the international network may see some marginal increase, said the sources aware of the development.

Air India Express currently operates 350 daily flights and has a fleet of 69 planes. It has some 1,300 pilots, including 400 of AirAsia India, and another 400 on training.

Air India Express will commence flights to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka during the forthcoming summer schedule, as per the sources. They also said that Air India Express will complete acquisition of its 50 white tail Boeing 737 Max plane order by December this year, of which it has already inducted 13-14 planes.

The sources also said the airline is expected to complete the merger of AirAsia India with it by the second quarter of the next fiscal.

Air India Express is expecting all of AirAsia India’s fleet to come on its air operator permit by July-August this year when the merger gets completed. As of now, it has three A320 neo planes of Airasia India fleet on its air operator permit.