NEW DELHI: Air India Express, the low-cost carrier owned by the government, has curtailed its services to West Asia during the first quarter of 2014, MoS Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara told the Lok Sabha. In a written reply, Siddeshwara said due to expiry of the lease of four aircraft, some loss-making flights on the Kochi-Mangalore and Salalah-Trivandrum route have been curtailed and passengers from Kochi have been provided connectivity to Kuwait via Kozhikode.
The airline, which was established in May 2004 as a low-budget international airline, started its operations in 2005. Currently it has 21 B737-800 aircraft in its fleet and flies to 13 international destinations including Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Muscat and Salalah.
Siddeshwara told the House that requests have been received regarding increasing services and frequency of flights. “These requests have been considered keeping in view the feasibility and commercial viability of operating such flights by Air India Express,” Siddeshwara said.