In 2022, the Tata Group announced the consolidation of its airlines, AirAsia India and Air India Express. The first step of the process was to complete the acquisition of AirAsia India and rebrand it as AIX Connect. A lot of things were integrated. However, the two airlines have been working with two different Air Operator Certificates, although under a combined management and brand.

Air India Express and all the associated entities received the final order from the National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT) about the impending merger of Air India Express and AirAsia India/AIX Connect in June 2024. You can read the complete order here.

It seems we will finally see the full transition from AIX Connect to Air India Express in the next few days. While there is no official communication from Air India Express on this yet, the Air India Express website has started to reflect the schedule of flights with an IX code (replacing the I5 code, which showed that AirAsia India / AIX Connect operated the flight).

For instance, here are DEL-BLR flights on September 30, 2024, where the first flight on top of the offerings I5 1534 is operated by AIX Connect (departing Delhi at 2200 hours).  

And here is the same flight on October 1, 2024, listed as IX1534 indicating an Air India Express AOP.

While a virtual merger is already in place, both fleets are acting in tandem, and the management is unified; this is one more step towards closing the merger of the two entities. What surprises me is that they did not wait until the turn of the schedule on October 27, 2024, to flip to a unified AOP but rather did it a few weeks before. I hope it works out smoothly for them.

Customers of Air India Express might be confused for a second when they receive emails or text messages about their upcoming bookings being cancelled or rebooked. I hope AI Express does a good job explaining why they are getting these messages when they send them out.

Bottomline

AirAsia India, now renamed AIX Connect, will soon disappear for good, just 11 years after being formed. The airline will hand over operations to Air India Express completely after the virtual merger took place months ago, and this airline will take over all operations, which will be conducted as a no-frills carrier in the Air India Group. This transition will be effective October 1, 2024.

What do you think of the upcoming transition of operations to Air India Express?

(HT: AviationAll on X)

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