Air India Express to increase its fleet to 25

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 30 (UNI) Air India Express, the budget flight service of Air India, will add 12 more flights into its fleet by next year as part of its expansion drive, Chairperson and MD of Air India V Thulasidas said.

Four new aircraft would be purchased this fiscal and another eight would be bought in 2008, he told reporters yesterday on the occasion of the the two-year celebrations of Air India Express.

The budget airlines now has 13 aircraft, seven on lease and six its own, he added.

Regarding the merger between Air India and Indian, he said, ''Once the legal issues are completed in June, the integration of fleet, networking and employees could take at least two years''.

He also stated that there would be no retrenchment of employees when the merger took place.

When asked about the shortage of pilots, he said the airline had signed a MoU with the Indian Air Force to employ pilots retiring from the force.

The Air India Express that is celebrating the completion of two years of operations, aimed at ferrying 10 lakh passengers and earning a revenue to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore in the current fiscal, he said. Last year, Air India Express carried 7.50 lakh passengers and earned a revenue of Rs 690 crore, he added.

The Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai daily service would be started within three months, Mr Thulasidas said.

He said there were plans to fly more flights to other Indian cities and also increase the weekly flights from the present airports this year. The airline had began operations on April 29, 2005, with a Thiruvananthapuram-Abu Dhabi flight. It currently has 129 weekly flights from ten Indian airports to ten international airports.

UNI