Air India would add four more aircraft to the Air India Express fleet this year to expand its budget flight services, a top company official said.
"Air India plans to increase the Air India Express fleet to 25 by 2008. Presently, Air India Express has 13 aircraft, including seven taken for rent," the airline's Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas told reporters on the occasion of the second anniversary celebrations of Air India Express service in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
The total revenue expected from Air India Express during this year was Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) and the number of passengers, one million, he said.
Airfare for Rs 100 and less!
Last year, Air India Express carried 7.50 lakh passengers and earned a revenue of Rs 690 crore (Rs 6.9 billion),
he added.
The Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai daily service would be started within three months, Thulasidas said.
He said legal procedures of the Air India-Indian merger would be completed by June. But it would take one or two years more for the actual integration of the fleet, network and employees of both airlines, he added.
Thulasidas pointed out that both the airlines and the government had made it clear that the merger would not result in retrenchment of employees.
"The headquarters of the new company, its name and brand are yet to be decided," he said.