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Air India Express
Indian low-cost airline From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Air India Express is an Indian low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India.[6] It is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, India.[3][7] The airline operates more than 2000 flights per week to 45 destinations across India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.[8] It has operating bases in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kannur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli.
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History
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Foundation
Air India Express was inaugurated on 29 April 2005 with the launch of three flights that took off simultaneously from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The airline was launched as a low-cost carrier with the objective of providing convenient connectivity to short-haul international routes in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for the Indian expatriate community. Air India Express was Air India's response to the growing popularity of low-cost carriers worldwide and within the region. As a low-cost carrier, the airline operates point-to-point flights with multiple hubs all over India.[9]
In January 2013, Air India's headquarters relocated to Kochi and established a new maintenance base at Thiruvananthapuram.[10][11] Despite rising losses for its parent entity Air India, the airline continued to thrive in the following years and remain profitable.[12]
Privatisation
On 8 October 2021, Air India—along with its low-cost carrier Air India Express and fifty percent of AISATS, a ground handling company—were sold for ₹18,000 crores (US$2.5 billion) to Talace Private Limited, a Tata Sons' special-purpose entity. The airlines were later handed over to the Tata Group.[13]
In early 2023, reports emerged stating that the Tata Group was seeking to consolidate its four airlines into two airlines—one full service carrier and one low-cost carrier. The group acquired its remaining stake in AirAsia India, which was rebranded as AIX Connect, and talks began to merge Air India Express and AIX Connect. The group later confirmed the merger and applied for a merger request with the necessary authorities. The merger was later approved by the Competition Commission of India. AIX Connect started to transfer its aircraft and crew to Air India Express in preparation for the merger.[14][15]
Rebranding and merger
The airline began focusing more on non-trunk routes and began to pull out of routes requiring high business capacity, which would be taken over by Air India. The airline and Air India also began to stay away from each other's routes, with Air India Express connecting smaller cities and feeding on Air India's long-haul network.[16][17]
The Tata Group launched the rebranded Air India Express logo and livery on 18 October 2023, promising a new airline targeting India's budget-friendly aviation market. A rebranded website also went live. The first flight after the rebranding, IX 5101, took off from Mumbai to Delhi on 19 October 2023.[18] The airline later began attempts to diversify its revenue streams. It began focusing more on ancillary services by retrofitting all its aircraft with hot ovens to offer hot meals, and started selling handbag-only fares called "Xpress Lite Fares". The airline aims to increase its ancillary revenue to over 20% of its total revenue within the next few years.[19][20][21]
The merger of AIX Connect and Air India Express was declared complete on 1 October 2024.[22] By the time, the fleet size is to reach 88 aircraft and eventually 100 by 2024-end. As of September 2024, the airline has 7,000 employees.[5]
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Corporate affairs and identity
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It began operations at the Vatika One-on-One complex, which also houses the head office of its parent company, as of 2024.[23]
Livery
Air India Express initially featured a white fuselage with the old branding on the front in English on the port side and Hindi on the starboard side, with a stylised red wavy design on the tail. The tail art of the airline was the most unique, with each side of the tail reflecting an aspect of India eg. musical instruments, Indian wildlife, culture and famous landmarks. In 2023, the new livery consists of the airline's new logo, underbelly and engine casings painted in orange, while the tail is painted in a mix of grey, orange and cyan. The tail art is still retained but in the form of traditional art patterns found in Indian textiles.
Business trends
The key trends for Air India Express are (as at the financial year ending 31 March):
- The FY2024 financials—₹7,537 crore in revenue and a net loss of ₹163.1 crore—reflect the standalone performance of Air India Express Limited, excluding AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India). Following their merger in October 2023, the unified airline carried 40.7 million passengers with a record load factor of 85%. The integration consolidated domestic and international low-cost operations under the Air India Express brand, with consolidated financial reporting commencing from FY2025.
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Destinations
Initially, Air India Express focused on providing international flights from Tier II cities in India, to the Persian Gulf region and Southeast Asia. After the privatization and merger, the network of Air India Express was structured to complement Air India's routes, filling gaps where the parent airline does not operate. The carrier focuses on routes which have a higher component of leisure and price-sensitive customers.[32]
The airline flies to 38 domestic destinations and 17 international destinations as of May 2025, with primary hubs located in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi.[33][34][35]
Air India Express has codeshare agreements and interline agreements with the following airlines:
Codeshare agreements
Interline agreements
Fleet
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As of April 2025[update], Air India Express operates the following aircraft:[37][38][39]
Fleet information
During the 2023 Paris Air Show, Air India placed an order for 470 aircraft, which included an order for 190 737 MAX aircraft. The airline later transferred its 737 MAX order to Air India Express with deliveries commencing from October 2023. The airline revealed its plan to have 170 aircraft within five years.[45]
As of 10 September 2024, Air India Express' Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet consists of white tail aircraft, that is, the aircraft were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline (Air India Express). Of these aircraft, 29 offers business class seats which are planned to be eventually phased out as such configurations are not part of the airline's model.[46]
In April 2025, it was reported that Air India Express is set to receive the last of 50 Boeing 737 Max aircraft that were originally manufactured for Chinese airlines. Boeing redirected these aircraft to Air India Express due to a supply chain anomaly.[47]
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Accidents and incidents
Fatal
- On 22 May 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737–800 (registered as VT-AXV) flying on the Dubai–Mangalore route, overshot runway 24 on landing at Mangalore Airport, killing 152 passengers and six crew members of the 166 people on board. The aircraft crashed into a wooded valley at the end of the runway and burst into flames. There were only eight survivors.[48][49][50][51][52]
- On 7 August 2020, Air India Express Flight 1344, a Boeing 737–800 (registered as VT-AXH), excursed from the runway on landing,[53] fell into a valley and broke into three pieces after overrunning the table-top runway at Calicut International Airport. 21 people on board were killed, including both pilots, and at least 167 were injured.[54][55]
Non-Fatal
- On 5 September 2017, Air India Express Flight 452, flying from Abu Dhabi International Airport to Cochin International Airport with 108 occupants, suffered a runway excursion after landing at its destination. No casualties were reported and the plane returned to service after repair.[56]
- On 12 October 2018, Air India Express Flight 611, a UAE bound Boeing 737-800 (registered VT-AYD), sustained a tailstrike on takeoff before colliding with the localiser antenna and boundary wall of Tiruchirappalli International Airport. This resulted in severe structural damage to the undercarriage, landing gear, flight control surfaces and engine cowling. The crew continued to fly towards Dubai contrary to Boeing's tail strike checklist, reassured by normal instrumentation. When the plane was nearing the Middle East, the pilot was ordered to fly to Mumbai, India. It landed uneventfully and was repaired at a substantial cost.[57]
- On 11 October 2024, Air India Express Flight 613, a Boeing 737-800 flying from Tiruchirappalli to Sharjah, suffered a hydraulic failure in its landing gear assembly. After engaging in a holding pattern over Trichy for over two hours, the flight with 114 passengers landed safely.[58][59]
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See also
References
External links
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