is a
Low-cost Airline subsidiary of
Air India . Air-India Express promises to offer trips to the Gulf from India at 25% lower fares than Air India, will operate on a zero-commission basis. Operations are expected to continue with three aircraft.
With flying becoming more and more popular in India, a large group of customers are demanding low cost international flights like the new low-cost domestic private airlines. To help meet this need and expand the airline, Air India spun off Air India Express as its low-cost avatar. Currently operating in Gulf & Middle Eastern routes and some Southeast Asian routes, the sister airline has plans for expansion into Europe and America with the arrival of new aircraft.
The airline was established in May
2004 and started operations on
April 28 ,
2005 from
Thiruvananthapuram . Their first
Boeing 737 had been delivered in February 2005.
Services are from the State of
Kerala ,
New Delhi and
Mumbai to Gulf destinations and from
Chennai to
South East Asia .
Initial plans for the airline fleet included delivery of 18 Boeing 737-837 winglet-equipped aircraft over two years. Delivery of the first aircraft for Air-India Express took place on
22 February 2005 when a new production Boeing 737-86Q (leased from
Boullioun Aviation Services ) was handed over. Operations are expected to start with three aircraft and the other two Boeing 737-8BKs are being leased from
CIT Leasing .
737 ]]
