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

MUMBAI: Low-cost carrier Air India Express is looking to operate 40 per cent more flights next fiscal on the back of fleet expansion, sources said on Wednesday.

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 developments. 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.

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 so far.

Sources also say that the airline is expected to complete the merger of AirAsia India with it by the second quarter if 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 impending merger gets completed. As of now it has three A320neo planes of Airasia India fleet on its air operator permit.