The first of the six Next Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft to be taken on “dry lease’’ by Air India Express (AIE), the low cost carrier of the national carrier, is to join the fleet in March next.
All the remaining Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft will join the fleet by December 2016 and will be deployed to increase frequencies, strengthen the existing network and to expand operations to the Tier II and III cities.
Once the six aircraft are inducted, the strength of fleet of the Kochi-headquartered Air India Express will go up from the present 17 to 23.
The director board of the AIE that met this week in Delhi has given the nod for dry lease. “The routes and deployment of the aircraft is under discussion,” airline sources told The Hindu.
175 weekly flights
At present, the airline operated 175 weekly flights from various ports in the country to 12 international destinations. The flight from Varanasi, a Tier-II city in the North, to Sharjah was the latest addition in the AIE network.
The airline had kicked off steps to recruit cabin crew for the expansion plans being worked out to cater to the needs of the flyers. The six aircraft were taken on dry lease, and recruiting commanders and pilots would not be a problem for the AIE, he said.
Three more passengers would be able to fly in the AIE flights soon, as approval had been given to enhance the capacity. The wardrobe space in the front, reserved for hanging suits, would be used to position the three seats, increasing the capacity to 189 economy seats, sources said.
The airline had registered good performance in the first six months of the fiscal amidst intense competition and favourable market conditions.
The passengers carried in the April-September period touched 14.5 lakh compared to the 13.4 lakh of the corresponding period in 2014.
The load factor has touched 83.5 per cent and Kozhikode is now the largest domestic base.
The revenue during the first six months of the fiscal is Rs. 1,546.16 crore compared to the Rs. 1,406.22 crore during the same period in 2014.
