Under its new owner, the Tata Group, Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India, is trying to extend its international presence. At a recent event, one of the airline's senior officials stated that the carrier plans to aggressively expand its network in the next years.
Several aviation executives and leaders attended the Routes Asia 2022 event in Da Nang, Vietnam, which just ended. All major Indian carriers, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Scoot, and VietJet Air, among others, were among the many airlines from the Asia-Pacific region that were present.
Tara Naidu, Chief of Commercial at Air India Express, said the budget carrier hopes to expand its network under its new owner while sticking to its policy of offering inter-regional routes with a six-hour stage duration.
As part of a "massive" development strategy, AI Express might connect second and third-tier cities in India with many more nations over the next five years. Air India Express is exploring roughly 30 countries, according to Naidu, including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam. According to Routesonline, she stated,
“There are some markets where there is no direct connectivity, which is strange because they are huge markets. We believe that it’s going to be a win-win for us—it will stimulate growth of tourism in both directions and ease business connectivity.”
Air India Express operates affordable flights to 14 overseas destinations, primarily in the Middle East, from its Indian hubs in Kochi, Delhi, Mumbai, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode, among others.
The airline operates high-density point-to-point routes from Indian cities to overseas destinations such as Dubai, Sharjah, and Muscat, which are among its largest by capacity. The airline now operates 24 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, according to ch-aviation, with plans to add more in the near future.
