The move comes barely a month after the Tata Group — the conglomerate which owns Air India and its low-cost variant Air Indi Express — lost its Chairman Emeritus, Ratan Tata, who died due to age-related issues at Mumbai Breach Candy Hospital on October 9. He was 86.
The Tata Group has announced major plans to expand the services of Air India Express, revealing that the budget carrier, which currently has a fleet of 90 aircraft, will soon be expanded to around 110 by the end of the current fiscal year, in order to expand its services on domestic and short-haul international route.
Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Air India Express managing director Aloke Singh said that going forward, the airline’s primary focus will be in expanding from tier-2, tier-3 cities to points in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and in the near future, expand to South Asia and the Far East in the next couple of years.
“The largest chunk of growth in the domestic India market, around 65%, is actually on metro to non-metro routes and short-haul international networks,” Singh said.
He said that the airline’s focus on connecting tier-2 and -3 cities with international destinations is intentional as Air India will serve major metros and connect those with global cities. Singh added that they will ensure that the Air India Express and the Air India networks have a seamless flow of passengers.
“Air India Express can provide feeds to the Air India network over the hubs of Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, which are the three major hubs for Air India,” Singh said.
Notably, the Air India Express has majorly benefited from the deterioration of US-China ties owing to which US aerospace giant has halted the deliveries of the 737 Max aircraft to South Asian rival, with Air India Express acquiring around fifty 737 Max aircraft that Boeing had built for Chinese carriers.
The Tata Group-owned airline has added 26 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft to its fleet in the last 10 months, and will soon induct seven Airbus A320 Neo from Air India. Additionally, after Air India-Vistara merger, 10 A320 Neo aircraft belonging to Vistara, will also be added to the Air India Express fleet.
The move comes barely a month after the Tata Group — the conglomerate which owns Air India and its low-cost variant Air Indi Express — lost its Chairman Emeritus, Ratan Tata, who died due to age-related issues at Mumbai Breach Candy Hospital on October 9. He was 86.
Following Ratan Tata’s demise, his half-brother Noel Tata, was picked as the new chairman of Tata Trusts, an umbrella group of charities which holds 66% stake in Tata Sons — the holding company of Tata Group.