Air India Express schedules A321neo debut for early 2Q25
Air India Express (IX, Delhi International) is set to commence scheduled operations with A321-200N aircraft on April 15, 2025, the ch-aviation schedules module reveals. The low-cost carrier will start operating the type on the Delhi International-Bengaluru International and Delhi-Srinagar routes.
The company will also deploy the aircraft on services from Delhi to Ayodhya International and Jaipur starting on April 20.
Air India Express' A321-200N will feature 180 seats in economy and 12 in business class. The carrier does not have an outstanding order for the type. Parent Air India currently operates two A321-200Ns, VT-RTC (msn 11156) and VT-RTD (msn 11183), equipped with 192 seats in dual-class configuration. The carrier also has a firm order for another 210 units of the type directly from Airbus.
It is currently unknown if Air India Express will receive the aircraft from the fleet of Air India or if they come from its parent's orderbook.
ch-aviation reached out Air India Express for comment.
Air India Express operates twenty-four A320-200s, twelve A320-200Ns, forty-one B737-8s, and twenty-six B737-800s. It is expecting to add fifty B737-10s and ninety-nine B737-8s.
Plagued with supply chain issues
Meanwhile, Air India has been struggling to expand and modernise its aircraft fleet due to the supply chain problems that are plaguing the industry. Speaking at Skift India Forum, an industry event, the flag carrier's chief executive, Campbell Wilson, said that the company is seeing constraints in the supply of engines, fuselages, and first and business class seats.
Wilson noted that delivery delays of factory-new jets from Airbus and Boeing will hamper the airline's growth for four or five more years. "There is not a lot we can do. We are victims of circumstance, as is every other airline," he added.
Due to these issues, Air India cannot expand its network as fast as it initially anticipated. The carrier is keeping older aircraft in the fleet for longer, so its maintenance costs have risen. Increasing the network and fleet by leasing aircraft has also become more difficult as competitors have scrambled to source additional capacities, Wilson said.
Air India is reluctant to exercise its options for purchasing additional Boeing jets due to problems at the manufacturer and production caps set by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air India has 374 aircraft on order. Air India is set to receive ninety A320-200Ns, 210 A321-200NX, twenty-five A350-1000s, nineteen A350-900s, ten B777-9s, and twenty B787-9s.
