Air India Express flights to Bahrain to start in March

Manama: Air India Express, a low cost subsidiary of Air India, will start operations to Bahrain on March 25. Commencement of operations will increase the number of Air India flights to Bahrain from seven to 11 a week.

According to Air India Express officials, ticket fares are likely to be cheaper by at least 20 per cent. They also said that there would be four flights to Mumbai, five to Cochin and Calicut, two to Mangalore and one to Trivandrum.

Officials pointed out that Air India's current fleet of A310s would be replaced by Air India Express' Boeing 737-800s, which will allow a change in the mix of seats. The Boeing 737's 170 economy class seats will replace the A310's configuration of 22 J-class and 180 economy class seats.

Interestingly, officials also revealed that Air India's first Boeing 777-200ER, with its new livery, is off the assembly line and is in the final stages of readiness at Seattle. Officials said that Air India's acquisition of 68 state-of-the-art aircraft would position the airline as among the best in the world.