Air India Express to focus on metro to non-metro flights

The airline completed merger with erstwhile AirAsia India last month

Air India Express will focus on growing flight connectivity from metro to tier-2 and tier-3 cities as part of its ongoing route rationalisation with the group’s full-service airline, Air India.

“The largest chunk of domestic India market is metro to non-metro at 65%. This is also the fastest growing segment. While we will be present on some metro-to-metro routes, our primary focus is connectivity to tier -2 and tier-3 cities,” said Aloke Singh, Managing Director, Air India Express. The airline concluded its merger with erstwhile AirAsia India on October 1, 2024 until when the priority was to integrate the entirely domestic network of the latter with the feed of Air India Express that operated only on international routes primarily focusing on connecting Kerala with Gulf and Middle East. The airline has also added 35 planes over the past year to grow its capacity where it had a “weak” presence, such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

In line with its plans for non-metro routes, the airlines recently announced two new destinations- Jammu and Shri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair)- where flights will be offered from December 1. Agartala in Tripura was also a recent addition to its domestic network.

The regional short-haul international market will also build connectivity between tier-2 and tier-3 cities to points in the Gulf region, West Asia, S East Asia and going forward South Asia, South East Asia, Far East and Common Wealth of Independent States (CIS) nations, the top executive added.

South Asian countries could include destinations such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, while South East Asia could include Vietnam, senior executives at the airline said. The airline will also explore Hong Kong in Far East.

The metro to non-metro network strategy for Air India Express complements Air India’s where the focus is to connect trunk routes such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, some key short-haul international destinations such as Dubai and Singapore that have dense traffic and long-haul and ultra-long haul destinations in Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and Australia.

Following the merger of Air India Express with erstwhile AirAsia India last year, the airline has grown to a fleet of 89 aircraft. These include 22 A320s (from AirAsia India), 32 Boeing 737 NGs and 35 new Boeing 737 MAXs delivered to the airline out of the total order of 470 planes placed by the Air India group in February 2024.

The airline expects to grow to a total fleet size of 110 aircraft by March 2025. But delays in deliveries from Boeing, exacerbated by the recently concluded strike by its workers may result in “some slippage”. However, the airline is sticking to its target of 110 aircraft as Air India will also transfer some of its Airbus A320s to Air India Express.

All economy cabin

The airline will also undertake retro fitment of some of its aircraft from April 2025 onwards and revert to an all-economy class configuration. These will include 35 new Boeing 737 MAXs delivered over the past one year as these came in two and three-class configurations that include premium and business class because some of these aircraft were originally ordered by Chinese airlines and readied as per their specifications. Similarly, some of Air India’s A320s with twin class configuration that will join Air India Express will also be turned into an all-economy configuration.

Published - November 09, 2024 09:28 pm IST