More competition on Gulf-India route as flight frequency rises

Competition in the price-sensitive Gulf-India sector is likely to intensify with budget carriers such as Air India Express increasing the number of flights, analysts say.
According to reports in the Indian media, from October 25, Air India Express – the low-cost subsidiary of national carrier Air India (AI) – will take over international routes now operated by the company's domestic division known formerly as Indian Airlines. "We operate 196 weekly flights to the Gulf and South east Asia. Now, we will take over 71 Air India flights to Sharjah, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Colombo," P P Singh, Chief Operating Officer, AI Express, told an Indian newspaper.
He said: "Six Air India Airbus A320 aircraft, which have both economy and business class seat configuration, will be converted to all-economy with 168 seats for these routes. Air India crew will still operate the Airbus A-320s, though the flights will be marketed as Air India Express flights. We will soon begin bookings.
"The change is part of our route rationalisation drive. There was hardly any demand for business class on Sharjah and Dubai flights from Kerala, and it was felt that this could be better serviced by Air India Express."
Air India had also announced that it would introduce no-frills service on select domestic routes. The airline is currently saddled with a debt of about Rs160 billion (Dh12.2bn) on an equity base of about Rs1.45bn.
24/09/09 Nina Varghese/Emirates Business 24-7

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2009