AirAsia India, launched in 2014, no longer exists as a brand. Instead, all the flights are now operating under the brand AIX Connect before the legal merger into Air India Express is completed.

AirAsia India brand sunsetted

The Tata Group invested in a Joint Venture with AirAsia Berhad in 2014, where both the Tata Group and AirAsia Bhd, along with a third partner, had invested to launch a no-frills airline in India. The venture went nowhere with investigations around the conduct of one of the investors. Eventually, the Tata Group bought out AirAsia in various tranches, with the last tranche being bought on November 2, 2022. From there, The Tata Group had 12 months to stop using the AirAsia brand.

And now, AirAsia India as a brand no longer exists. Aloke Singh, who now is the MD of both Air India Express and AIX Connect (the new name of the entity that controls AirAsia India’s assets), wrote on LinkedIn,

The AirAsia India brand was sunset yesterday.

Take a bow, all who worked hard to build the India franchise of this amazing brand, and represented what the brand stood for.

A vibrant, new brand now takes its place, with ambitions of fulfilling the aspirations of a new India.

As we enter a new phase of our integration and transformation journey, its a privilege to work alongside an extraordinarily talented set of people, across two organisations, achieving one milestone after another.

To new beginnings!

AirAsia India had diligently sent all the aircraft to the paint shop over the months to have them scrubbed of the AirAsia India branding removed. As a result, you would have seen aircraft painted in a red blob at Indian airports.

Here is an excellent video that Air India Express put out to showcase the transition from AirAsia India to Air India Express as the brand. Last month, the airline also organised a massive event to announce the rebranding.

If you are a keen avgeek, please ignore the change of registration of the aircraft that enters and exits the hangar and other associated technical changes.

Bottomline

AirAsia India is no more; it is now AIX Connect as a company and Air India Express as the brand. AIX Connect will be merged into Air India Express when the legal merger process is completed, and the airlines will become one. In the meantime, some aircraft have already moved from AirAsia India’s AOP to Air India Express AOP to facilitate the launch of international routes with them (AIX Connect did not come around to launching international operations).

What do you make of the transitioning out of the AirAsia India brand?

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