One year of ‘one Air India Express’: From branding to route mix changes, the airline tackles a plethora of challenges

October 01, 2025, will mark a year since the completion of the merger of AIX Connect (erstwhile AirAsia India) with Air India Express. The merged entity, which is now over four times what it was at the time of privatisation, has grown through every possible means — merger, induction of new aircraft and transfer of planes from the parent Air India. However, in its new avatar, it has left behind the pure LCC (Low Cost Carrier) mindset, not just because of the dual class planes in service which will eventually be moved to single class but also because of the multiple types it has, including both Airbus and Boeing. The airline ought to be celebrating the one year of the merger; instead, it is at the receiving end on social media with its planned cancellations to the Gulf from Kerala in focus, which has seen Trivandrum MP Shashi Tharoor join in as well.

From 2005 when the airline’s first flight took off until now, the last year was the most exciting for the airline, as over the years it saw its headquarters move to Gurgaon, among other things.

Major changes to the route mix

In January 2022 when the Tata group took over Air India and Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary was largely a southern India-based airline with operations to the Gulf. What followed was an expansion like no other, leading to a four-fold increase in fleet, induction of the MAX 8 aircraft, vibrant livery with different tails for each aircraft and an expansion across the country and to foreign shores. From nearly 100% of its capacity deployed on International routes, the airline now has a mix of nearly 50% of its capacity being domestic, with the rest being international.

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However, this has come with its own set of problems, with cancellations and pull-outs across both domestic and international sectors. The airline not only saw the transfer of aircraft from parent Air India, but also routes from the parent. However, it now has a history of starting routes, vacating them and then being present again on the same routes, creating confusion on what the real strategy of Air India Express is.

The Kerala story and Bengaluru hub

At the centre of the controversy right now is the decision to pull out flights from various points in Kerala and add flights from other places in the country. Over a period of time, the airline has become stronger in Bengaluru and recently rejigged its network to offer a good hub and spoke model. This has been followed by the withdrawal of flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi from Trivandrum, Kochi to Dammam, Calicut to Kuwait and Salalah, and reducing frequency on a few other routes from Kerala. There are cuts across the network, which also includes flights from points in North India and Chennai. The seats and frequencies available by reducing the flights from the south have been utilised to increase frequency from various points up north and launch flights from Bengaluru.

Time to get out of the shadow

This is not the first time that a private airline in India is deploying two brand strategies. Both Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways had two brands on offer, with one on the full-service side and one on the low cost. Both airlines struggled to find the right mix. A similar approach is already in the works at Air India Express with the group initially trying to diversify based on the city of operation, sometimes on the routes and then not distinguishing but co-existing.

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The airline has a plethora of challenges ahead of it, starting with the branding. It has aircraft in the new livery, in the old livery, in Air India livery and red and white aircraft in former AirAsia India colours. The next is standardisation of inventory, helping it to better manage revenue and achieve operational excellence. The dual-class aircraft have been due for conversion to mono class, but the supply chain constraints and availability of space at MROs remain a challenge.

The airline which was functioning independently (and recording profits) is now under the single umbrella. It needs to be seen if it will get out of the shadow of the parent or be more interlinked. Both the strategies have been tried and tested in Indian skies and both the airlines which tried these are no more in operation. Times have changed and so has the market.