Air India Express to fly from Trichy, Mangalore, Amritsar

Bahrain and Doha may be new destinations

BY A CORRESPONDENT
May 1, 2006

Having turned one year old, Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India is planning to add three more cities to its Indian network.

Air India Express, which started operations on April 29, 2005, has overseas fights from Trivandrum, Kochi, Kozhikode, Delhi and Mumbai. Much of its overseas traffic is in the Gulf sector, which is reserved for government-owned airlines in India. The airline started with 3 leased aircraft, and had five now. Another 18 brand-new Boeings are in the pipeline. The airline said that in the Kerala-Gulf sector, the airline is experiencing 90% seat factor.

The three cities to join the Air India Express network will be Trichy, Mangalore and Amritsar.

Currently, the low-budget Air India Express flies 43 weekly flights, which will be raised to 72 a week by the end of the year. It has flights to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, al Ain, Muscat, Salalah and Sharjah. It is planning to add Bahrain and Doha to its network soon.