The Financial Express
Air India will take delivery of 30 new aircraft and add more than 400 flights a week in the winter schedule, which started in the last week of October.
Between now and March 2024, the airline expects to induct over 30 widebody and narrow body aircraft to its fleet, including six A350s, four B777s and 20 A320neos.
“Around 200 of these new flights will be on international routes, adding frequencies and connecting new city pairs between India and North America, Europe and Southeast Asia,” Campbell Wilson, MD and CEO, said in a communication sent to Air India’s employees.
At the onset of the Winter Schedule 2023, the airline has ramped up frequency to 25x weekly flights (each way) on eight international routes across points in Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe.
The carrier will start direct flights between Mumbai and Melbourne in December. It has launched direct flights between Bengaluru and Singapore.
“We are also hoping to launch four new international stations in the next few months, of which we’ll share more details in due course, as well as more interline partnerships,” Wilson added.
Through its latest partnership with Alaska Airlines, the airline will expand connectivity to multiple destinations in the US, Mexico and Canada.
On the aircraft side, all three non-stop US flights from Mumbai (New York, Newark and San Francisco) as well as two Mumbai-Heathrow flights, will now be operated on the upgraded B777 fleet featuring modern generation seats and inflight entertainment.
“This is a precursor of much more to come, with the complete interior refit of our legacy widebody aircraft starting in less than a year from now,” Wilson added.
CDB Aviation, a wholly-owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing, this week delivered the first of a fleet of six Airbus A320neo aircraft to Air India.
At the launch of the new design of Air India Express, Wilson had said that Air India will induct one new aircraft every six days until 2024-end.
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