With the upcoming launch of Air India Express flights from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram to Bahrain and Dammam, the southern Indian state of Kerala will now have two new links to the Middle East. The airline has chose to lease two Boeing 737s from Vistara to add extra flights to its winter schedule, and over the next years, the Tata Group is set to provide significant investment for fleet expansion.
Adding new Middle Eastern routes
From the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala, the low-cost international carrier Air India Express will shortly begin two additional trips. In a statement, the airport announced that the airline would begin operating flights to Bahrain on November 30 and Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on December 1. Air India Express will be the first airline to link Thiruvananthapuram with Dammam, even though Gulf Air currently connects it with Bahrain with seven weekly flights.
The flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Bahrain will run twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday, departing at 17:35 and arriving at 20:05 local time. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 17:35 and 20:25 local time, respectively, the service to Dammam will run. Jazeera Airways, a low-cost airline from Kuwait, recently began flying twice weekly on Monday and Wednesday directly to Thiruvananthapuram.
More planes are required;
Since there is once again a desire for foreign travel, Air India Express has been seeing outstanding load levels. To accommodate demand, the airline started experimenting with the notion of leasing a few Boeing 737 aircraft in June. In order to expand its winter flying schedule, it was previously rumoured that Air India Express will accept two 737s on lease from Vistara, another airline owned by the Tata Group.
The airline hasn’t added any new aircraft to its fleet in a very long time. Over the years, there had been proposals for fleet growth, but nothing ever came to pass. It now has a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 aircraft that are all Boeing. But given that the Tata Group intends to invest between $75 and $100 million in AI Express over the following five years, all of that may alter in the years to come. The firm will probably invest $15–20 million a year, the most of which would go toward purchasing additional planes for the intended network growth.
Thiruvananthapuram International Airport
Air India Express’ secondary hub is located at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, which also serves as a centre city for a number of the nation’s main domestic airlines. Its operations have significantly expanded since its founding as the Kerala Flying Club in 1932. An international airport was established there in 1991.
In October of last year, Thiruvananthapuram International Airport was transferred to the Adani Group as part of the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) proposal to lease out some of its airports. A 50-year agreement was signed with the AAI by the Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd (ATIAL), a fully owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, to operate, manage, and develop the airport.
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