Air-India Express
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| Air India Express एअर इंडिया एक्स्प्रेस |
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| IATA IX |
ICAO AXB |
Callsign EXPRESS INDIA |
| Founded | April 2005 | |
| Hubs | Trivandrum International Airport Cochin International Airport |
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| Focus cities | Indira Gandhi International Airport Kozhikode International Airport Mumbai International Airport Chennai International Airport Mangalore International Airport |
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| Fleet size | 18 (+7 orders) | |
| Destinations | 26 | |
| Parent company | Air India | |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, India | |
| Key people | ||
| Website: http://www.airindiaexpress.in/airindiaexpress/home.asp | ||
Air-India Express (Hindi: एअर इंडिया एक्स्प्रेस) is a low-cost airline subsidiary of Air India based in Mumbai, India. It operates services mainly to the Middle East. Its main base is Cochin International Airport, Kochi, with a hub at Trivandrum International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram [1].
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[edit] History
The airline was established in May 2004 and started operations on April 29, 2005 with a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Abu Dhabi[1]. 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. The airline has plans for expansion into Europe and America with the arrival of new aircraft.
The airline has been making huge profits on most routes. But after seeing Air India Express' success, many other carriers such as Air Arabia and Jazeera Airways have entered the India - Gulf market and many others such as Jetlite and Air Deccan plan to do so as soon as they get the required licenses.
[edit] News
With the merger of the two major state owned airlines Indian Airlines and Air India it is said that Air India's subsidiary Air India Express will partly merge with Alliance Air, a fully owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines. As the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines has taken place in September 2007, their subsidiaries will partly merge as well. The Alliance Air larger aircraft fleet will partly be absorbed into the Air India Express fleet, some large aircraft are being converted to cargo for Air India Cargo and the smaller aircraft such as ATR and CRJ will operate under Air India Regional.
Thus, there is Air India (after the Air India - Indian Airlines merger, the airline is called Air India), and its subsidiaries Air India Express (combining the former Air India Express and some Alliance Air aircraft), Air India Regional and Air India Cargo.
[edit] Liveries
Every aircraft features a different tail design that reflects a facet of Indian Culture.
| Registration | Left Tail | Right Tail | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VT-AXA | Thrissur Pooram elephant | Pushkar Fair camel |
| 2 | VT-AXB | Rangoli | Indian Kite |
| 3 | VT-AXC | Sitar | Tabla |
| 4 | VT-AXD | Nilavilakku (Oil lamp) | Diya (Oil lamp) |
| 5 | VT-AXE | Kathakali dancer | Bharatanatyam dancer |
| 6 | VT-AXF | Konark Sun Temple | Taj Mahal |
| 7 | VT-AXG | Indian jewellery | Saree |
| 8 | VT-AXH | India Gate | Gateway of India |
| 9 | VT-AXI | Indian art [1] | Indian art [2] |
| 10 | VT-AXJ | Red Fort | Red Fort |
| 11 | VT-AXM | Mehrangarh Fort | Mysore Palace |
| 12 | VT-AXN | Hawa Mahal | Ujjayanta Palace |
| 13 | VT-AXP | Indian art [3] | Indian art [4] by Raja Ravi Varma |
| 14 | VT-AXQ | Qutub Minar | Jantar Mantar [5] |
| 15 | VT-AXR | Snake Boat Race | Kalaripayattu |
| 16 | VT-AXT | Indian Peacock | Painted Stork |
| 17 | VT-AXU | Bihu | Garba |
The average age of Air India Express fleet is 1.1 years as of October 2007.
[edit] Destinations
As evident from the Airline's Website, Air India Express operates to the following destinations at present:
[edit] Indian Subcontinent
- India
- Mumbai (Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport)
- New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport)
- Kochi (Cochin International Airport)
- Kozhikode (Kozhikode International Airport)
- Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum International Airport)
- Chennai (Anna International Airport)
- Amritsar (Raja Sansi International Airport)
- Mangalore (Mangalore International Airport)
- Tiruchirappalli (Tiruchirapalli Airport)
- Nagpur (Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport)
- Kolkata (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport)
- Lucknow (Amausi International Airport)
- Hyderabad (Rajiv Gandhi International Airport)
[edit] Gulf Region
[edit] South Asia/South East Asia
[edit] Fleet
As of Jan 2008 the Air India Express fleet includes[4] :
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-03-27, p. 58.
- ^ Flickr - Rick Schlamp
- ^ Indians in Thailand - AI Express to launch low cost flights from Kolkata to Bangkok
- ^ Air India
[edit] See also
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