on the fly: What are Air India’s leading international routes?
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Air India is in the spotlight. In February, the newly re-privatized airline placed massive aircraft orders with both Airbus and Boeing, signalling its intent to become a major player in global aviation. Also helping to deliver on this ambitious vision is a major merger. Air India is combining forces with rivals Vistara and AirAsia India, the latter to integrate with Air India Express. In addition, the esteemed Singapore Airlines will become a major Air India shareholder, owning a quarter of the company’s shares.
How will the newly enlarged Air India look to eventually deploy its new aircraft? Many of the new aircraft will of course be used to replace the planes it currently flies. According to Cirium Fleets Analyzer, Air India today operates a fleet of just 213 planes, including those flown by Vistara, Air India Express, and AirAsia India. Only 46 of these are widebodies. This is far less than the 500-plus planes the company just ordered.
Some of the new planes will merely replace existing planes as they age. Many others, however, will inevitably be used for growth, including international growth. FM traffic, a tool within Diio by Cirium, is helpful for identifying where Air India might expand. It shows, for example, that many of its Delhi-New York passengers are connecting onward to Dallas-Fort Worth. So perhaps the airline will use some of its new widebodies for a new DFW nonstop. Or maybe Houston would be better, given Air India’s Star Alliance links to United? Will it add more routes to Europe? East Asia? Africa? It will be an interesting decade ahead.
With growth on the horizon, what Air India’s key international routes?
Our analysis below provides a look at Air India’s most important international routes currently. One factor that stands out is that Delhi, not Mumbai, is Air India’s chief international hub.
NEXT ON THE FLY: What are the busiest routes on the Transatlantic market?
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