Air India Express


Air India Express is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. It is operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian flag carrier airline Air India. It operates around 649 flights per week to 33 destinations including the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The airline carries around 4.3 million passengers every year connecting 140 city pairs. Its secondary hub is in Kozhikode.

History

Air India Express came into existence on 29 April 2005, with the launch of three flights that took off simultaneously from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The airline was launched as a low-cost carrier with the objective of providing convenient connectivity, to short-haul international routes, in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for the Indian expatriate community. Air India Express was Air India's response to the growing popularity of LCCs worldwide and within the region. Being an LCC, the airline operates point-to-point flights with multiple hubs all over India.
In December 2012, Air India ratified the proposal to move the headquarters to Kochi in January 2013 and to establish a new MRO base at Thiruvananthapuram.

Revenue

On 3 September 2016 the company announced that it had earned a net profit for the first time since its inception. As per the accounts placed and approved by the airline's board of directors, the airline made a net profit of in FY 2015–16 against a loss of 61 crores registered in FY 2014–15. In the FY 2015–16, the airline witnessed a passenger load factor of 82.3% against 81.4% in the previous year, while average daily aircraft utilization rose to 11.3 hours from 10.8 hours. The airline carried around 2.80 million passengers against 2.62 million carried in the previous year.
As per the accounts placed and approved by the airline's board of directors, Air India Express made a net profit of in FY 2016–17. The revenues increased by 14% recording a total revenue of Average daily aircraft utilization rose to 12.2 hours from 11.3 hours. The capacity offered by the airline went up by 33%; the fleet size progressively increased from 17 to 23 aircraft; and the number of passengers carried increased by 22%, to 3.42 million from 2.8 million in 2015–16.
On 9 November 2018, the airline posted a net profit of, the third consecutive year that it reported a profit, and registering an operating profit for the previous five years.

Destinations

Air India Express focuses on providing international flights from Tier II cities in India, to the Gulf and South East Asia. The airline flies to 33 destinations as of May 2019 with a primary hub located at Cochin International Airport in Kochi.
On the domestic front, the airline operates from the states of Kerala, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In its international arena, the airline mainly connects South Indian cities with Gulf countries.
;Codeshare agreements:
The Air India Express fleet consists of the following aircraft :

Accidents and incidents

On 22 May 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737-800 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 only eight survivors.