Tata Sons mulls AirAsia India exit

Air India Express adds first A320neo

Air India Express (IX, Mumbai International) has inducted its first Airbus aircraft, namely an A320-200N transferred from merged low-cost carrier AirAsia India, as the Air India Group moves towards consolidating its four AOCs into two.

VT-ATJ (msn 10520), a 2.3-year-old jet owned by AerCap, operated its last revenue flight for AirAsia India on August 23, 2023, flying from Jaipur via Hyderabad International to Bangalore International. It was then ferried back to Hyderabad, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. It then underwent maintenance and operated various test flights during September 2023, already under the Air India Express 'IX' code. It ran its first revenue flight for its new operator on October 4, flying from Bengaluru to Jaipur.

"This transfer will be progressively followed by all other aircraft so that, eventually, our two LCCs become one and we have full flexibility to deploy aircraft in the most optimal and efficient manner across our low-cost network," Air India Chief Executive Campbell Wilson said.

Air India Express has thus far operated Boeing...

Tata, Adani, Emirates vie for SriLankan Airlines - report

The Sri Lankan government is in talks with many private companies and airlines as it prepares to privatise SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International), including Emirates (EK, Dubai International) and the Indian conglomerates Tata Sons and Adani Group, according to Veeraperumal Ravindran, the carrier’s regional manager for India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Ravindran was speaking to the Indian broadsheet The New Indian Express to raise the airline’s profile in the Indian state of Kerala, where it is planning to increase its frequencies between Colombo and Thiruvananthapuram in the coming winter schedules from 6x to 7x weekly and to maintain its 10x weekly frequencies to Kochi International. It also plans to start flights to Kozhikode given the availability of aircraft.

There has been a steep rise in traffic from India to Sri Lanka in the last seven months, he said, adding that business at the airline is picking up as “things are becoming more normal in Sri Lanka”. However, he said nothing more about the privatisation.

As ch-aviation has previously reported,...

India's competition tzar approves Air India - Vistara merger

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger of Air India (AI, Mumbai International) and Vistara (UK, Delhi International), subject to both airlines abiding by voluntary commitments made to the regulator. Those commitments deal with concerns raised by the CCI that the merger could result in a monopoly on some routes.

While the CCI notice issued on September 1 green-lighted the merger, it did not provide its specific reasons for doing so, saying that it would give a detailed explanation later. However, the CCI did note that the merger involved Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) and Tata Sons acquiring some shares in the merged entity, as well as Singapore Airlines acquiring additional shares in the merged entity via a a preferential allotment.

Singapore Airlines held a 49% stake, and Tata Sons a 51% stake in Tata SIA Airlines Limited (TSAL), which operates Vistara. Tata Sons also owns 100% of Air India and two merging low-cost carriers Air India Express and AirAsia India (to become AIX Connect)....

Merged Air India Express to add fifty B737 MAX - report

Air India Express (IX, Mumbai International) is poised for rapid growth after its expected merger with fellow budget carrier AirAsia India (Bangalore International) by late March 2024 and the addition to its fleet of about fifty B737 MAX by December 2024, reports BusinessLine newspaper in Delhi.

This will allow the Air India (AI, Mumbai International) subsidiary to grow its West Asian network and introduce new domestic and international routes, including Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the Maldives.

No further details on the fleet additions were disclosed. ch-aviation has reached out to Air India Express for comment.

Focused initially on medium-haul travel to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Air India Express was restrained by fleet limitations despite a solid financial position, according to BusinessLine. A business plan drafted in 2018 projecting a fleet of 50 aircraft by 2025 was hindered by disinvestment and COVID-19 disruptions.

However, B737 MAX deliveries are due to start in September 2023 amid the ongoing merger process with AirAsia India. The merger is...