The low-cost carrier expands Gulf and Southeast Asia connectivity from Kerala and regional hubs, lifting weekly operations past 4,000 services from October 25.
KOCHI —Air India Express will raise its daily operations to nearly 585 departures and introduce more than 40 new routes starting October 25, under an expanded winter schedule designed to strengthen non-metro links to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
The phased expansion marks the Tata-owned budget carrier’s largest winter schedule to date, taking its total weekly movements to approximately 4,100 flights—up from around 3,150 during the summer season. Daily operations will comprise roughly 435 domestic departures and up to 150 international services, connecting 65 airports across 220 routes. With this network scale-up, the airline’s international route map will surpass 100 sectors, up from 83.
Expatriates and leisure travelers from Kerala see a substantial share of the added cross-border capacity. The airline will introduce four weekly flights on the Kochi–Bangkok sector alongside a three-times-weekly service connecting Kochi with Kuwait. From Thiruvananthapuram, Air India Express will operate two flights weekly to Bahrain and up to three weekly services to Riyadh. Passengers in the northern coastal corridor will gain direct access via neighboring Mangaluru through twice-weekly flights to Ras Al Khaimah and three weekly departures to Kuwait.
The international ramp-up also extends into emerging departure points across northern and central India. The carrier plans four weekly departures between Lucknow and Ras Al Khaimah, four weekly flights on the Phuket–Hyderabad and Bangkok–Indore sectors, and three weekly flights linking Bhopal with Sharjah. Other West Asian additions include up to three weekly flights on Sharjah–Surat, thrice-weekly links on Abu Dhabi–Goa (Mopa) and Amritsar–Abu Dhabi, and a daily connection between Dubai and Goa (Dabolim). Daily services are also scheduled between Bengaluru and Kathmandu, while Delhi–Riyadh will see four weekly flights and Chennai–Singapore will expand to a double-daily pattern of 14 weekly services.
Nipun Aggarwal, Chairman of Air India Express, said the winter network scale reflects carrier confidence in consumer demand while supporting commercial trade, tourism, and broader economic activity. Aggarwal noted that despite elevated aviation fuel costs across the industry, the airline remains committed to disciplined network growth across metros and underserved tier-2 and tier-3 markets.
The growth program is supported by a fleet that now exceeds 105 aircraft, consisting of Boeing 737 family jets and Airbus A320 narrowbodies. The broader fleet footprint will also increase one-stop domestic and international connecting itineraries across the airline’s hub stations from 1,330 to roughly 1,600 departures per week.
On the domestic front, the airline is introducing high-frequency routes between major regional commercial centres. Bengaluru will see 14 weekly flights to Coimbatore, alongside daily services to Goa (Mopa), Jodhpur, and Madurai. Daily frequencies are also slated for Ahmedabad–Delhi, Delhi–Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), Delhi–Udaipur, Hyderabad–Pune, and Mumbai–Nagpur.
Air India Express is also launching connectivity to the upcoming Navi Mumbai operational sphere, scheduling three flights a week from Bhopal and four weekly services from Indore. Other domestic sector additions include Bhubaneswar–Sri Vijaya Puram four times weekly, Delhi–Jaipur five times weekly, Hyderabad–Mangaluru three times weekly, and Kolkata–Pune twice weekly.
