AirAsia India plans to start multiple flights connecting Ahmedabad, to increase fleet size to 29

New Delhi, Nov 10: Budget carrier AirAsia India will fly daily on the Ahmedabad-Bengaluru route and start multiple flights connecting the commercial capital of Gujarat with other major destinations like Delhi, Goa and Hyderabad by the month end, an official said.

Ahmedabad will become the 21st destination on the airline's network after the beginning of services on the Ahmedabad-Bengaluru route from November 22.

AirAsia India will also increase its fleet size to 29 aircraft by December-end, as it aims to increase frequencies to metro cities and prune unprofitable routes in the upcoming winter schedule, said Sanjay Kumar, chief operating officer of the airline.

"We will soon be launching Ahmedabad-Delhi by next month, with increased frequency to 3X (three times) daily, further down the line. Alongside that, we will also be increasing the Ahmedabad-Bengaluru frequency to 2x (two times) daily," Sanjay Kumar, the chief operating officer (COO), AirAsia India, told PTI. He said the low-budget carrier is keen on expanding its operations in Ahmedabad by introducing flights on the Ahmedabad-Goa and Ahmedabad-Hyderabad routes. AirAsia India is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Malaysia-based AirAsia Berhad. "With our expansion plans firming up steadily, we plan to add a few more destinations by 2020 which we will keep you posted about," Kumar told PTI.

As on October 10, the carrier had a fleet of total 20 aircraft. Since then, it has added four planes in its fleet. "Our fleet size currently stands at 24 at the moment and we plan to add five more by the year-end," he said. "We started off the year with 18 aircraft in our fleet which will see a surge of over 50 per cent by the year-end as we have plans to take our aircraft count to 29," he added.

AirAsia Indiacurently operates 175 daily flights to over 20 destinations across the country, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.