AI Express plans to deploy 10 more aircraft for domestic ops

Air India Express, the low-cost entity of national carrier Air India, will begin its domestic operations from September on more than a quarter of the airline's existing routes and plans to deploy 10 additional aircraft for the purpose.

Air India Express, the low-cost entity of national carrier Air India, will begin its domestic operations from September on more than a quarter of the airline's existing routes and plans to deploy 10 additional aircraft for the purpose.

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"Air India will begin the domestic operations in September. In the winter schedule, there will be 27 per cent
flight of the current domestic routes of Air India," Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav told reporters in New Delhi.

With an aim to restructure the national carrier, about 72-75 per cent of the total flights of Air India would gradually be brought under the low-cost entity, he added.

Air India Express currently has only international operations, mostly on gulf routes from India. The national carrier is also negotiating with banks to replace its high-cost debts with low-cost ones.

"We are currently negotiating with banks to replace our high-cost debts with low-cost debts ... Our high cost debt is around Rs 10,000-11,000 crore," Jadhav said.

The airline has also set up a cost management and audit team to look at the overall financial restructuring of the airline, which would deal with servicing of debt, risk management and other related issues.