Air India Express
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| Founded | May 2004 | ||||||
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| Operating bases |
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| Focus cities |
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| Alliance | Star (affillate) | ||||||
| Fleet size | 19+4(On Order) | ||||||
| Destinations | 26 | ||||||
| Company slogan | "Simply Priceless" | ||||||
| Parent company | Air India Limited | ||||||
| Headquarters | Kochi | ||||||
| Key people |
Rohit Nandan (Chairman) K. Shyamsundar (CEO) | ||||||
| Website | www.airindiaexpress.in | ||||||
Air India Express is a low-cost subsidiary of Air India. It has its Headquarters at Kochi and maintains an engineering base at Thiruvananthapuram. It operates about 100 flights per week from South India to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The airline is owned by Air India Limited as a subsidiary.
Overview
Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India and operates mostly from South India to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The airline began operations on 29 April 2005 with a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Abu Dhabi. The airline was initially owned by Air India Charters Limited before becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India Limited.
Being a low cost airline, the airline operates point to point flights without any hub. In December 2012, the Air India board ratified the proposal to move the headquarters to Kochi in January 2013 and for establishing a new MRO base at Thiruvananthapuram.[1][2]
Destinations
Air India Express operates 100 flights per week, mainly from southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in India. Air India Express is planning to launch direct flights from Delhi to destinations in Central Asia and Middle East from early 2016.[3]
Fleet
The airline took delivery of the first aircraft on 22 February 2005 when it leased a new Boeing 737-86Q from Boullioun Aviation Services. Air India had originally planned to convert 3 of its existing Boeing 777 orders into 10-11 Boeing 737 MAX orders but later decided to stick with the original order.[4] As of March 2015, Air India Express fleet included the following aircraft:[5]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers (Economy) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 19 | 4 | 189 | 4 More Aircraft Being Leased from GECAS[6] |
| Total | 19 | 4 |
Each Air-India Express aircraft features a different tail design that reflects a facet of Indian culture, history and tradition.
| Registration | Left Tail | Photo | Right tail | Photo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VT-AXH | India Gate |  | Gateway of India | |
| 2 | VT-AXI | Rajput painting | .jpg) | Ragamala paintings | .jpg) |
| 3 | VT-AXJ | Red Fort |  | Gwalior Fort |  |
| 4 | VT-AXM | Mehrangarh Fort |  | Mysore Palace |  |
| 5 | VT-AXN | Hawa Mahal |  | Ujjayanta Palace |  |
| 6 | VT-AXP | Hamsa Damayanthi |  | Ravi Varma Art |  |
| 7 | VT-AXQ | Qutub Minar |  | Jantar Mantar | _(4336474987).jpg) |
| 8 | VT-AXR | Snake Boat Race |  | Kalaripayattu |  |
| 9 | VT-AXT | Indian peacock |  | Painted stork |  |
| 10 | VT-AXU | Bihu |  | Garba |  |
| 11 | VT-AXW | Sanchi Stupa |  | Charminar | |
| 12 | VT-AXX | Indian beaches |  | Himalayas |  |
| 13 | VT-AXZ | Dal Lake |  | Thar Desert |  |
| 14 | VT-AYA | Ellora Caves | Ajanta Caves | ||
| 15 | VT-AYB | White tiger |  | Chital | .jpg) |
| 16 | VT-AYC | Naga Shawl | Pataola Saree | ||
| 17 | VT-AYD | Nagaland Folk Dance |  | Manipuri Dance |  |
| 18 | VT-GHA | ||||
| 19 | VT-GHB |
Accidents and incidents
- On 22 May 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737-800 (registered VT-AXV), flying on the Dubai–Mangalore route overshot runway 24 on landing at Mangalore Airport, killing 152 passengers and six crew members of the 166 people on board. The aircraft crashed into a wooded valley at the end of the runway and burst into flames. There were eight survivors and eight scheduled passengers who did not board the aircraft.[7][8][9][10][11]
See also
References
- ↑ Ramavarman, T. "Shifting of Air India Express headquarters to Kochi gets nod." Times of India. 14 December 2012. Retrieved on 5 February 2013.
- ↑ Staff Reporter. "Air India Express route scheduling from city soon." The Hindu. 7 January 2013. Retrieved on 5 February 2013.
- ↑ Air India Express to connect Delhi
- ↑ Air India nixes proposal
- ↑ Air India Express : About Us
- ↑ "Perfect 10 for Air India Express". Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ↑ "Jet crash kills 158 in India; 8 survive". 2010-05-23.
- ↑ "Indian official: 158 dead in Air India plane crash in Mangalore". Wire Update/BNO News. 2010-05-22.
- ↑ "Air India flight from Dubai crashes in India". MSNBC. 2010-05-21.
- ↑ "Casualties feared in Air India crash". CNN. 22 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ↑ "India plane crash in Mangalore leaves nearly 160 dead". BBC News. 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Air India Express. |
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