There are two major airline mergers going on in the Indian market right now, both related to each other. One is the merger between Air India and Vistara to create one full-service entity, and the other is a merger between Air India Express and AIX Connect (earlier known as AirAsia India) to create one comprehensive Low-Cost Carrier. This LCC will be a subsidiary of Air India.
Air India Express and AIX Connect set to merge on October 1, 2024
While Air India and Vistara’s merger is set for November 12, 2024, Air India Express and AIX Connect are already operating in unison. However, they are still two legal entities, with Air India Express flying a fleet of 737/737 MAX aircraft (and some A320s), and AIX Connect flying a fleet of A320s inherited from the AirAsia India days.
You might have noticed aircraft flying without a brand, but just a lot of red paint in the past months on the Indian tarmacs. These are AirAsia India aircraft, with their branding painted over as the timeline to use the AirAsia brand expired.
Now, it is time to close out the “two entities” chapter for good. The NCLT approved the merger scheme of the two entities on June 12, 2024, and consequently, AIX Connect will be merged with Air India Express soon.
The legal merger between AIX Connect Private Limited and Air India Express Limited will be effective from October 1, 2024. After this date, AIX Connect Private Limited and the designated airline code, “I5”, will cease to exist. For instance, a flight booked initially as I5-1XXX will now be operated as IX-1XXX. PNRs will remain the same.
This also means that all flights originally booked under the I5 code will be transitioned to the IX carrier code, and new flight bookings will be made under the IX code.
Air India Express will start harmonising Boeing 737 MAX configuration to all-Economy in 2025
After the legal merger is complete, the combined entity will consist of 87 aircraft: 60 Boeing 737/737 MAX Aircraft and 25 A320/A320 Neo aircraft. The airline has inducted 33 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the past year or so, all of which were built to the specifications of other airlines. Another 17 aircraft, all white-tail aircraft, are to be inducted by the end of 2024.
Air India Express, in a rush to expand, has also inducted aircraft with a business-class cabin. At the moment, it has 29 aircraft with Business-Class seats on board. The airline will start a project to retrofit all these aircraft with an all-economy configuration in 2025.
Some aircraft will also be returning to their lessors, and about 20 single-class A320 aircraft will also be inducted from Air India in the coming months. This means that Air India Express is slotted to grow aggressively over the coming years.
Hamish Maxwell will be the new COO of Air India Express.
Next month, the new entity will also undergo a change of guard. While Aloke Singh of Air India Express has continued as CEO, the COO will be changed. Pushpinder Singh, who has been COO for a decade, will move back to Air India.
Hamish Maxwell, currently the head of flight operations at Vistara, with an SVP designation, will move into the COO Role at Air India Express on October 31, 2024. Before arriving at Vistara, Hamish used to be at Singapore Airlines. Other people are also expected to join from Vistara.
Bottomline
Air India Express will see many moving pieces in the coming months, with the airline seeing the merger of its two entities, Air India Express and erstwhile AirAsia India, into one. This will not be much work on the front end but more like a merger of the books of both entities and the closure of the AirAsia India/AIX Connect license for good. Flights designated as I5 will move to be designated with IX code in the coming days.
Other changes will include personnel changes at the management level, which will see the change of the Number 2 position at the airline, with an old-hand making way for the new guard, arriving from Vistara.
What do you think of Air India Express in its current form? I’m excited to see these changes at the airline.
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I’m flying in December. There’s a same time, same date, but two flight options: Air India Express and Air India. Will they merge and become one flight only?
Hi Ajay,
Is the loyalty program same for express and airindia ?
@Rags, no loyalty programme per se for AIX for now. You earn Neu coins. It is intended they join Flying Returns, not done yet.
> It is intended they join Flying Returns
I think when we heard about a “Group Loyalty Program” back in January, that “group” was Vistara & Air India, not Air India & Express. Because if they intended to merge Air India Express into FR, the right time would be now, why wait? They could have made it an event on 1st October with Vistara joining FR in Nov.
@Rutgers Bach, it is intended to have AIX Join. I guess, though, to not piss off the Vistara Fanboys, they will be onboarded first. It is one thing to get a merger of loyalty programmes right, and another to have an airline join the grouping. Remember, on Oct 1, those airlines (IX and I5) have to go through a merger process too. So the window is short. As for “group”, I talked to the folks at FR, I know what I reported on 🙂