Air India Express, the low-cost arm of the Air India Group, is looking to double its market share in the domestic as well as short-haul international market over the next five years.
Air India Express, which currently only flies short-haul international routes, and Air Asia India, which operates domestic flights, are in the process of a merger, which is in the final stages. At the same time, the airline is also adding brand new planes.
Over the next 15 months, Air India Express will add 50 new planes, doubling its size in a short period. Two of the brand new planes have already been inducted. The airline showed off the first plane, a Boeing 738-8 in its brand new livery on Wednesday evening.
Overall, the airline plans to grow its fleet to about 170 narrow-body aircraft in five years.
"If you look at the scale that we have today and the scale we had in the years ago, it is nowhere doing justice to the market. Now we are trying to catch up," said Aloke Singh, the CEO of Air India Express.
Singh pointed out that the combined entity has only 7-8 per cent market share in the domestic market and in the short-haul international market it is about 11-12 per cent.
"Once we scale up, get our new fleet into commercial operations, we are really looking at growing big time. The five-year target we have, we are looking at doubling our market share in domestic India and also doubling it in short-haul international," he said.
The company will increase its presence in the domestic market as well as the Gulf countries, Middle East and South East Asia region. It will also expand and add new services to South Asian and CIS countries.
The livery of the first new Boeing 737-8 aircraft showcased at the launch, draws inspiration from the Bandhani textile design. The upcoming aircraft being inducted will feature designs inspired by other traditional patterns including Ajrakh, Patola, Kanjeevaram, Kalamkari, etc., showcasing India's artistic diversity.