Air India Express is the low-cost subsidiary of Air India, headquartered in Kochi and later in Gurugram. The airline operates short and medium-haul scheduled passenger services connecting cities in India with destinations across the Gulf region, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. It is a wholly owned arm of the Air India group, which is part of Tata Sons following the privatisation of Air India in 2022.
| Type | Low-cost airline |
|---|---|
| Parent | Air India (Tata Sons) |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Commenced operations | 2005 |
| Hubs | Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru, among others |
| Country | India |
| IATA code | IX |
| ICAO code | AXB |
| Callsign | Express India |
Air India Express was set up to serve the large Indian expatriate workforce in the Gulf Cooperation Council states, where demand for affordable point-to-point air travel between Indian cities and destinations such as Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Riyadh is significant. The airline was conceived as a budget carrier within the Air India group to compete with private low-cost operators that had entered the Indian market in the early 2000s.
The airline was incorporated in 2004 as a subsidiary of Air India Charters Limited and began commercial operations in 2005, initially with services from Kerala to West Asian destinations. Kerala became central to its network because of the strong demand for travel between the state and the Gulf.
The carrier built its operations primarily around the Boeing 737-800 narrow-body fleet, configured for single-class budget service. Following its integration into the renewed Tata-led Air India group, the fleet was being expanded with new-generation Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as part of group-wide modernisation.
On 22 May 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737-800 operating from Dubai to Mangalore, overran the tabletop runway at Mangalore International Airport on landing. The accident resulted in the deaths of most passengers and crew on board and remains one of the deadliest civil aviation accidents in India.
After the Tata Group's acquisition of Air India in January 2022, the group consolidated its low-cost operations. AirAsia India was rebranded as AIX Connect, and was subsequently merged with Air India Express to form a single low-cost carrier under the Air India Express brand. The merged entity adopted a refreshed livery and brand identity.
Air India Express operates a route network focused on:
Its principal operating bases include Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi.
Air India Express has played a notable role in providing affordable connectivity for the Indian diaspora in the Gulf, particularly migrant workers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Its operations contribute to the broader India–Gulf travel corridor, which is among the busiest international air markets for India. As the consolidated low-cost arm of the Tata-owned Air India group, it is positioned to compete with carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet in the budget segment.