When it comes to airline operations, airlines sometimes have to take a multi-fleet operation to get their foot in the door. Vistara was doing that for its narrow-body fleet when it inducted Jet Airways’ Boeing 737NGs to expand capacity. Air India Express is now running a multi-fleet operation because its Boeing 737 fleet was merged with AirAsia India’s A320neo fleet. Further on, the new aircraft they are inducting are all Boeing 737-8s, but there will be a new addition to this mixed fleet soon.
Air India Express will induct the A321neos soon.
Air India Express will now see the arrival of a larger plane from the A320 fleet, which it will inherit from its parent company, Air India. In 2023, Air India inducted four A321neos from lessors with no seats installed. These aircraft were registered VT-RTB, VT-RTC, VT-RTD, VT-RTE. Two jets were configured in a 12 Business + 180 Economy configuration, and two are configured in a 232 Economy Seats.
Air India’s A321neo Aircraft on the inside
Air India’s A321neo Aircraft on the inside
Now, Air India Express will receive these aircraft from the mothership. The schedule for Air India Express, as published on Cirium SRS Analyzer, reveals that Air India Express will up gauge its 05:00 AM service IX2508, which flies from Delhi to Bengaluru from an A320 to an A321 with 232 seats as of April 15, 2025. The airline will also launch a new flight at 6:30 AM to take on the A320, which will no longer be used at the 5:00 AM flight.
The second A321neo will join the fleet on May 1, 2025, and operate twice daily on the Delhi—Srinagar—Delhi circuit. According to the published schedule, the aircraft will still have 12 business-class seats. If these aircraft are going to be rotated on the international segments, it is yet to be seen, but at least not scheduled on day 1.
Air India, when they inducted these planes, was looking for all the capacity they could use. Now that they have Vistara, they have ten A321neos and 13 A321 aircraft from Air India’s earlier fleet. Not to mention, the airline has A321neos on order from Airbus as well. No wonder these four aircraft no longer fit the scheme of things for Air India.
Bottomline
Air India Express, which has a 100-aircraft-strong fleet comprising Airbus A320ceo, Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-8 aircraft, will add A321neo aircraft to its fleet in the coming weeks, taking these on from Air India. The airline will put these on the Delhi – Bengaluru – Delhi and Delhi – Srinagar – Delhi routes in the initial induction days.
What do you make of the induction of A321neos at Air India Express?
Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.
(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)
We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.
Leave a Reply