Air-India and its budget subsidiary Air-India Express will soon begin their domestic airline forays.

V Thulasidas, chairman and managing director, A-I, said: "A-I is the only airline across the globe to have only international operations. This model is not sustainable. A-I and A-I Express will assume the role of domestic airlines by next year."

He pointed out that the entire domestic operations will depend "on the availability of the aircraft" and claimed that it was very difficult to get aircraft in the market.

Explaining the need to have domestic operations, Thulasidas said that A-I primarily needed "hub and spokes" services to support its international operations.

For A-I Express's operations, the company has already bought three aircraft on dry lease and intend to scale the number of aircraft to 18. A-I Express which commenced operations on April 29 connects four Gulf destination including Dubai and Abu Dhabi and Salalah and Muscat from four domestic airport in India.

It also plans to increase its presence in the growing cargo market. "We intend to add more cargo aircraft and are converting two A310 aircraft into cargo.