AirAsia India (Bangalore International) is planning to accelerate its growth and hopes to increase its fleet fourfold to 100 aircraft in the next five years, an unnamed company source told industry publication TravelBiz Monitor.

"We have firmed up plans to add 14-15 planes every year starting next year for the next five years. We have remained a small player in the Indian market till now with just 23 planes, which will increase to 29 planes by the end of December,” the executive said.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the Indian LCC, a 51/49 joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Group, currently operates twenty-three A320-200s and is in the process of adding the twenty-fourth unit.

The airline will be adding aircraft both transferred from other AirAsia Group units and directly from lessors. Out of its current 23-strong fleet, 11 aircraft were previously operated by AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International), while the remaining 12 came from other carriers.

The carrier said earlier this year that its growth plans for 2020 include the addition of the first A320-200neo.

AirAsia India will focus its growth on existing routes as it plans to add more frequencies rather than launch new, low-frequency routes.

"There is no point staying a marginal airline on various routes. The focus will rather be on strengthening our position on routes that we are in," the executive said.

According to the ch-aviation capacities module, AirAsia India has a 6.8% market share by capacity on the Indian domestic market, compared to 46.4%, 16.0%, and 10.5% shares of its LCC rivals IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International), SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International), and GoAir (Mumbai International).

Meanwhile, the carrier's Malaysian parent said it will add capacity on its Kuala Lumpur International-Singapore Changi route, using A330-300s operated by AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) to launch an additional two daily services between the cities. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, AirAsia currently operates 59x weekly between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore with all flights operated by A320-200s.

The carrier's A320s seat up to 180 passengers, while AirAsia X's A330-300s have 365 economy class seats and 12 premium class seats. AirAsia has a 21.6% market share by capacity on the Kuala Lumpur Int'l-Singapore Changi market.