Air India Express makes rapid strides in 3 yrs since inception

Mumbai, Apr 29 (UNI) Air-India Express, the wholly-owned subsidiary of National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), has made remarkable progress in terms of fleet, network expansion and number of passengers carried, since its inception three years ago on April 29, 2005.

Commencing operations with three leased aircraft, Air India Express (AIE) today has a fleet of 18 B737-800 aircraft - the most technologically advanced single-aisle jet aircraft. By the end of 2009, AIE proposes to have a fleet of 25 aircraft, a release issued here today said.

While AIE had carried 0.5 million passengers in its inaugural year, 1.8 million passengers travelled on AIE flights in the fiscal ending March 2008. AIE today operates 153 weekly flights between 13 Indian cities viz Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Trichy, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, Delhi and Amritsar and 12 International stations viz Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Al Ain, Salalah, Bahrain, Doha, Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok on the network.

The low-cost airline proposes to further expand its services by introducing flights to Kuwait from Kerala, Mangalore and Ahmedabad; to Dubai from Goa, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Flights will also be launched to Dhaka from Kolkata.

The success of Air India Express can be measured from the tremendous passenger satisfaction and the acceptance of the product by travel trade, which has led to a continual demand for increased operations. It has become one of the most preferred low cost airlines flying to international destinations.

Besides lower fares, an important feature of Air India Express is the internet based reservations system. Passengers have access to fares and availability of seats, which makes it an extremely transparent system.

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