Air India’s integration efforts for the airline and the three sister entities have been progressing at different stages, with the steps for the low-cost airlines progressing much faster than the parent airline.
AirAsia India and Air India Express are now on the same reservation platform.
The Air India Group today announced that it had completed a significant milestone in integrating its two low-cost subsidiary airlines, Air India Express and AirAsia India.
On March 27, 2023, the two low-cost airlines moved to a single, unified reservations system and website and adopted common social media and customer support channels. This migration, which primarily involved Air India Express migrating to the systems used by AirAsia India, confers significant capability and efficiency benefits for the airline and passengers.
In particular, passengers can now make and manage bookings, and check-in to AirAsia India and Air India Express domestic and international flights, on an all-new integrated website, airindiaexpress.com.
This system merger comes five months after AirAsia India was fully acquired and subsidiarised under Air India and three months after AirAsia India and Air India Express were placed under a single CEO. In the coming months, the airlines will continue integrating other internal systems and, eventually, their air operating permits and regulatory posts.
Commenting on the development, Mr Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD Air India, said,
The integration of the core reservations and passenger-facing systems of Air India Express and AirAsia India marks a significant milestone in the Air India Group’s transformation journey. This new Air India Express, operating both domestically and internationally using systems optimised for low-cost airlines, gives the Group a much stronger LCC platform. Together with the Group’s recent, benchmark-setting aircraft order, this sets the scene for us to realise many new opportunities for customers, employees and Indian aviation.
Integrating Air India Express and Air India will bring revenue, cost, and operational benefits through broader adoption of each airline’s best practices, systems, and routes and confer more significant economies of scale. The new Air India Express will focus on leisure-oriented and price-sensitive markets while improving connectivity between key domestic cities and Air India’s fast-expanding international network.
AirAsia India flies to 19 destinations nationwide, while Air India Express operates to 14 international destinations from 19 Indian cities.
Air India has exited some routes in the past few weeks, which have been handed over to AIX Connect (the consolidated entity of Air India Express and AirAsia India). For instance, Delhi – Surat operations were exited by Air India and commenced by AirAsia India.
Bottomline
Air India’s low-cost subsidiaries, AirAsia India and AirIndia Express, are now on a unified reservation platform on the same website and have a common social media presence. While the aircraft may continue to fly in different liveries for the time being and under different AOPs, they are looking in the same direction (unlike AI and Vistara, which will take much longer to harmonise).
What do you think of the integration efforts of Air India Express and AirAsia India?
Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.
(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)
We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.
Leave a Reply