Keynote Interview with Aloke Singh, Managing Director of Air India Express at Aviation Festival Asia 2025: “Indian Aviation: The Next Phase of Growth – Connectivity, Transformation, and the Path Ahead.

 

The Air India Group recently completed a major merger, consolidating its four airlines down to two. As part of this transformation, the two low-cost airlines, Air India Express and AIX Connect were merged into a single low-cost airline, while Air India and Vistara merged to create a unified full-service carrier.

Following a year of change, Air India Express is eyeing up a significant network expansion, looking at newer market segments, adapting the group’s operating model to the market. This year, the airline has been positioning itself as a key player in India’s domestic landscape, operating across 38 domestic destinations and connecting them with 54 destinations in 9 countries in total. It recently announced from June, it will add routes from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Trichy, working to connect South India to Gulf and South Asian destinations.

At Aviation Festival Asia in February, Aloke Singh, Managing Director of Air India Express talked through the airline’s strategy. He explained that the mergers enable the Air India Group to “operate the right model in any given market” hitting the premium business markets as well as the value-conscious segments.

Explaining the foundations for the expansion, Singh talked about India’s untapped potential:

“We are already the world’s third largest domestic market […] we have the demographics, we have the GDP, and what we are beginning to see is what we call the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, these are the new emerging hotspots of the economy. However, the air travel penetration in the Indian market is still very low compared to other emerging markets. It is one-third to one-fifth the size of other emerging markets like Indonesia, Brazil, China, so there’s plenty of headroom.”

To find out how Air India Express is deepening its domestic footprint, leveraging strategic partnerships, and learning to avoid legacy tech-heavy systems while offering passengers seamless transfers, watch the full interview below. Book your ticket now to join us at AFA 2026!

 

 

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