Air India Express

Based in Mumbai, Air India Express, a low-cost airline subsidiary of Air India, was India’s first budget airline and serves major Indian cities, and mostly Middle Eastern destinations on its international itinerary. The airline has its main base in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with a hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and has plans to expand into the US and Europe.

Air India Express is a fairly new airline, established as it was in 2004 and achieving its first flight (to Abu Dhabi) a year later in 2005. The airline runs a high quality fleet of 180-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft that are all equipped with single economy class throughout to provide the cheapest fares possible.

Regular flights go between Amritsar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthpuram, and Tiruchirapally and to and from a number of international destinations, including Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Bahrain, Columbo, Doha, Dubai, Muscat, Salalah, Sharjah and Singapore. Most of these flights are short-haul with very quick turn-around times, typically one hour. In addition, Air India Express also has ambitious plans to offer several more domestic and international routings in the future.

The main goal of the airline is to get the customer from A to B as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. On-board services with Air-India Express are good; all passengers have access to entertainment facilities as well as being offered free meals and standard beverages.

Seats on Air India Express can be booked online through a straightforward web-based reservations system as well as through the company's authorized travel agents. Booking online is encouraged and can save passengers both time and money, with natty booking system features such as the 'lowest fare finder' that enables passengers to find the best fares and timings for their route with ease.