|
Air India Express is the low cost subsidiary of Air India. It was founded in May 2004. The airline operates most of its flights from the main base in Kerala. It was founded to service the growing demand of South Indian travelers for a low cost flying option to the Gulf. It operates flights mainly to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The airline started operations on 29 April 2005 with a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Abu Dhabi.
Air India Express is India’s only international airline that offers great value and amazing service at lowest fares. At present, AI Express operates approximately 100 flights per week, mainly to the Middle East from Tamilnadu and Kerala.
Fleet
The fleet consists of 21 advanced B737-800 aircraft. Since the airline mainly focuses on budget travelers, all aircraft have only a single class i.e. economy. The aircraft have a capacity of 180 seats. The airline follows world class safety and maintenance standards for its fleet.
On-board Services
Each flight has all the important in-flight services required to make your flying absolutely comfortable. Despite being a low-cost carrier, it provides free standardized meals and limited on-board entertainment facilities. The airline offers a complimentary pre-set snack box or light meal to its passengers. You have the option to choose from veg. and non-veg. options.
Destinations
Air India Express operates flights to leading international destinations which are within a distance of around 4 hrs from different airports in India. At present, it flies to 14 international destinations – Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Bahrain, Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Kuala Lampur, Sharjah, Kuwait, Muscat, Salalah and Singapore. All the international flights are operated from 16 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Tiruchirapally and Thiruvananthpuram.
Apart from the international flights, AirIndiaExpress also operates several flights on the domestic sectors like Mumbai-Kochi, Mumbai-Kozhikode, Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Nagpur, Mumbai–Mangalore, Mumbai-Thiruvananthpuram, Mumbai–Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Nagpur, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi–Lucknow, Kozhikode-Kochi, Kozhikode-Thiruvananthpuram, Kochi-Thiruvananthpuram, Chennai–Tiruchirapally, Chennai–Hyderabad and Kozhikode–Mangalore sectors.
Baggage Allowance
Each passenger of the airline is allowed to carry up to 7 kilos of cabin. For an infant, you can carry up to 10 kilos baggage free of charge. However, free check-in baggage limitation offered by the airlines varies depending on the destination.
Check-in
The check-in counters open 3 hours prior and closes 1 hour before the schedule departure of the flight. For the check-in process, you need to bring your conventional paper ticket along with valid passport and visa (for international flights) or a photo ID for domestic travel.
Air India Express Online Booking
Flight tickets can be booked either through the official website or with any of the leading OTAs like Yatra.com, cleartrip.com, makemytrip.com etc. Online booking is very customer-friendly and takes only a few minutes. The biggest advantage of booking flight tickets online is, it is very easy and completely removes all hassles and also saves you a lot of money as the fares that you get online are lower than what you get from the travel agents.
You can also reserve seats of your choice at the time of booking or even after the booking by paying nominal additional charge. Passengers travelling to UAE (except residents and Employment VISA holders) should hold their return tickets only on Air India/AI Express. |
