The Hindu Business Line : AI Express launches online ticket sales

AIR India Express, the budget airline of Air India, which starts operations on April 29 with the first flight on the Thiruvananthapuram-Abu Dhabi sector, plans to launch flights from Chennai and Kolkata to South-East Asia within a year.

Addressing a function here to introduce online ticket sales, the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, Mr V. Thulasidas, said the new airline would make a modest start with operations from five cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat.

"Within a year we hope to increase operations to Kuwait, Bahrain and Doha," the CMD said. The tickets of the new airline are on an average to be priced 25 per cent lower than existing market fares.

Air India Express will sell its inventory over the Internet. Passengers will have the option of buying a ticket by accessing the airline Web site (www.airindiaexpress.in) . Besides, they will also have the facility of purchasing their tickets through travel agents or from AI Express offices. However, the passengers will be required to pay a service fee of Rs 125 per sector, in addition to the applicable fares and taxes.

Later speaking to newspersons, the Secretary Civil Aviation, Mr Ajay Prasad, said the fleet acquisition proposal of Indian Airlines should go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) within the next 15 days. "It is only after the CCEA approval that the airline will be in a position to draw up the contract including working out the payment terms and delivery schedules," the Secretary said.

On the issue of more private sector airlines being allowed to operate flights to Paris and Brussels, the Secretary added that the Government had not yet made any allotment.

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