AI Express explores new routes
Air India Express is on an expansion spree connecting the UAE with potential important markets in India, reveals its Chief Executive Officer K. Shyam Sundar.
QWhich latest routes have you introduced this year?
Air India Express is going to launch direct flights from Sharjah to Chandigarh and to Tiruchirappalli (Trichy). This will be the first flight from Sharjah from both Trichy and Chandigarh. We are also looking at operating from Lucknow to Dammam, and also starting operations into Riyadh from other parts of India.
Q*QY JCU VJG VTCHſE been between the UAE and India?
The traffic between India and the UAE has been growing at a healthy rate of about 10 per cent. It is a vibrant market and we expect to gain from this growth.
QWhich sectors have shown growth during the past year?
We have seen an increase in air traffic from Dubai to all of South Indian cities especially Calicut, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, and Kochi. We have seen an increase in traffic on the Sharjah to Varanasi, and Sharjah to Mumbai routes, which were introduced recently. We have also launched flights from Dubai to Delhi and Dubai to Mumbai, and there is still a huge potential to add more flights on this route.
QWhat is AI Express’ growth strategy in the UAE?
Air Express has almost 60-65 per cent of its flights and capacities on the IndiaUAE routes and I expect this trend to continue in the future. This is also evident by the fact that when we launched a flight from Ras Al Khaimah to India, the seats were sold out in a instant. India
We have also launched flights from Dubai to Delhi and Dubai to Mumbai, and there is still a huge potential to add more flights on this route We have also launched flights from Dubai to Delhi and Dubai to Mumbai, and there is still potential to add more flights
has great potential and will always be a key market for Air India Express.