Air India Includes Smaller Cities

In an ongoing effort to increase market share, Air India has announced that they will now include small or so-called 'tier-II' cities on its network map at competitive fares.

The airline had been operating a Delhi-Gwalior flight with an ATR aircraft thrice a week, but now it would be operating on the route with a 122-seater Airbus 319 daily.

At the launch of an afternoon Delhi - Gwalior - Mumbai flight on Monday, Arvind Jadhav, Air India CMD said: "We are actively looking at re-distributing our total number of seats across the network, especially on the non-breakfast (off-peak hour) flights to connect more cities,"

He went one: "We are looking at seven-eight more such flights to connect smaller cities to two metros."

"I have asked the marketing department to examine if there is a demand for additional frequency in the prime or non-prime slots where these cities could also be accommodated"

The move is aimed at shoring up Air India's passenger count and while also enhancing aircraft utilisation.

The airline is also exploring the possibility of launching flights over the coming months on routes like Delhi-Ranchi-Kolkata, Guwahati - Pune and Hyderabad.

Wednesday, 20th April 2011 at 07:19am