Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India, projects a growth of 50% in passengers flown in the financial year 2026 taking the total number to 30 million, according to its CEO Aloke Singh.
The airline ferried approximately 20 million passengers in the financial year 2025, when it witnessed a growth of 19%. The same year it added 37 aircraft and grew its fleet size to a total of 103 aircraft and strengthened its route network by adding nine destinations to take the total to 53 destinations. Total routes rose from 140 to 210. The aircraft additions included 25 of Boeing 737 MAX 8 deliveries and 12 A320s transferred from Air India.
Until the privatisation of Air India in January 2022, Air India Express flew only on international routes predominantly from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to Gulf countries. But after joining the Tata fold and its merger with AirAsia India, the airline has recast itself into a domestic airline with a focus on connecting tier-2 and tier-3 cities with Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as well as short-haul international destinations while Air India focuses on metro to metro connectivity and far-flung international destinations with some presence in key nearby foreign markets too.
The rapid fleet expansion thus far was in part due to the readily available Boeing 737 MAX aircraft after some Chinese airlines delayed receiving the planes they had ordered- Air India Express has added 41 out of the 50 MAXs on order over the past two years. In the FY2026, the airline will add a total of 15 aircraft, including 9 of the remaining MAXs which will join the fleet within the first quarter. 26 A320s from the erstwhile Air Asia India joined the airline as part of the merger.
With these additions, the coming summer season effective March 29 will see Air India Express increase its domestic and international weekly departures by 40% as they grow to 3,684 weekly departures as compared to 2,623 last summer.
The airline has a one-way codeshare with Air India, which allows the latter to sell destinations served by Air India Express to its passengers, including those who fly from Europe and the U.S.
In order to widen the choice of international destinations offered to its passengers, the airline has also entered into virtual inter-line partnerships with six international low-cost carriers, including Scoot Air, Jazeera Air, and Air Arabia.
The airline will also undertake an exercise to ensure all-economy seat configurations across its aircraft over FY2026 . It currently has a mix of cabin configurations, that include business class seats on 41 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as well as premium economy seats on some aircraft transferred from Air India.
Published – March 28, 2025 10:49 pm IST