From 1 September 2026, Air India Express will serve 64 destinations: 48 in India and 16 abroad.
Six new domestic stations join the map that day, and the airline has just become the first to link Northeast India directly with the Gulf.
One thing to settle first: Air India Express is a separate airline from Air India. Both sit inside the Tata group and share a loyalty programme, but they fly different aircraft under different codes, and our Air India news hub covers the mainline separately.
Latest Air India Express updates
Last updated: 14 August 2026.
We covered the Navi Mumbai launch in full when it opened: Air India Express launches the first Navi Mumbai to Abu Dhabi flights.
Where Air India Express flies now
The heaviest flying runs between Kerala and the Gulf, from bases at Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The India to Dubai and India to Abu Dhabi corridors are the commercial core of more than 500 flights a day.
The network splits cleanly. Domestically it links India’s metros to second and third-tier cities that Air India has been stepping back from with its own metal, which is why the 1 September additions all hang off Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Internationally it is overwhelmingly a Gulf carrier, with a smaller Southeast Asian arm to Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket, plus Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Growth this year has concentrated on the Gulf. Abu Dhabi alone gained Navi Mumbai, Indore, Lucknow and Guwahati between mid-July and early August, and Dubai gained Guwahati. That is a deliberate push into cities with large Gulf expatriate populations that previously had to connect through Delhi, Mumbai or Kochi.
What this means for your trip: If you fly a Gulf to India route that Air India Express has just opened, the nonstop is usually slower to fill than an established one, which tends to keep introductory pricing on the table for the first few months. Compare the new nonstop against your usual one-stop before defaulting to the connection.
What Air India Express fares actually cost
Wego sampled live one-way economy fares from real searches on Wego on 14 August 2026, for travel on 15 September 2026, filtered to Air India Express nonstops. The cheapest Gulf run was Kochi to Muscat at USD 170. The dearest was Kozhikode to Doha at USD 444, 2.6 times the price for a sector of almost identical length.
That spread is the useful part, and route length explains very little of it. Competing capacity on the sector explains most of it: Muscat and Abu Dhabi are heavily served from Kerala, while Doha out of Kozhikode is thin.
Kochi priced below Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to the same Gulf city on this date, so price all three if your Kerala departure point is flexible. These are also lead-in fares, which on Air India Express means the most restrictive fare family. For pricing across carriers, see our Gulf to India flights comparison.
Baggage and fare families
Air India Express sells branded fare families: Xpress Lite, Xpress Value, Xpress Flex and Xpress Biz, with variants for families and return trips. They differ on baggage, change fees and seat selection, and the gap is wide enough that the cheapest fare is often the wrong buy.
- Xpress Lite is cabin baggage only. No checked bag is included on either domestic or international routes.
- Xpress Value and Xpress Flex include checked baggage. On India to Gulf routes covering the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, the economy checked allowance is 30 kg carried across two pieces, raised from 20 kg in January 2025.
- Xpress Biz is the business cabin, with 40 kg checked on international Gulf routes and 25 kg domestically.
Cabin baggage is 7 kg in one piece across the fare families. Passengers travelling with an infant get an extra 10 kg of checked allowance internationally, and individual bags are capped at 32 kg. Thailand routes carry less than the Gulf routes.
That 30 kg Gulf allowance is the strongest reason to pick Air India Express on these routes, because Kerala to Gulf expatriate traffic runs heavy on baggage. Confirm the allowance on your specific fare at airindiaexpress.com when you book, since the airline adjusts it by route and season.
Fleet and the 737 MAX build-out
Air India Express operates over 100 aircraft: Boeing 737-800s and 737 MAX 8s ordered through Air India, plus Airbus A320 and A321neo jets that came across from AIX Connect. The MAX 8 is the largest single type.
The mixed fleet is a merger artefact. The airline in its present shape dates to 1 October 2024, when AIX Connect, previously AirAsia India, was folded into Air India Express.
Deliveries have been uneven. Through 2023 and 2024 the airline took roughly two 737-8s a month by absorbing Boeing’s stockpile of aircraft originally built for Chinese carriers. Once that stockpile cleared in mid-2025 the pace fell sharply and Air India Express joined the standard production queue.
Air India added 30 more Boeing 737 MAX to the group’s firm orders in January 2026, and management has guided to roughly 20 to 24 aircraft joining Air India Express during 2026. Treat delivery timing as fluid, because Boeing’s output schedule has slipped repeatedly.
For the safety record and what regulators have found, see Is Air India Express safe?
Maharaja Club: one programme, two airlines
Since 22 May 2026, Maharaja Club members earn and redeem Maharaja Points on Air India Express flights as well as Air India ones, across more than 55 destinations in South, Southeast and West Asia. Award redemptions start from 1,500 Maharaja Points on selected domestic sectors, and Tata NeuPass members also earn NeuCoins on Air India Express bookings.
Loyalty is the one place where the two airlines genuinely act as one. Points earned on an Air India long-haul flight can be burned on an Air India Express Gulf hop, which makes the low-cost network far more useful to anyone already holding a balance.
Frequently asked questions
Is Air India Express the same as Air India?
No. They are two separate airlines inside the Tata group. Air India Express uses the IX code and is a low-cost, short-haul carrier. Air India uses AI and is the full-service carrier operating the widebody long-haul network. They share the Maharaja Club loyalty programme and some booking channels, and Air India Express operates some flights that carry an AI codeshare number, which is where most of the confusion comes from.
How much checked baggage does Air India Express include?
It depends on the fare family. Xpress Lite includes none. On India to Gulf routes, economy fares that include baggage carry 30 kg in two pieces, and Xpress Biz carries 40 kg. Cabin baggage is 7 kg. Thailand routes carry less. Check your exact allowance at booking, because it varies by route.
Which new Air India Express routes are launching in 2026?
Guwahati to Dubai and Guwahati to Abu Dhabi started in early August, the first direct link between Northeast India and West Asia. Navi Mumbai, Indore and Lucknow to Abu Dhabi all started in mid-July. From 1 September, six new domestic stations open: Aurangabad, Coimbatore, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Madurai and Tirupati.
How many destinations does Air India Express serve?
Air India Express counted 43 domestic and 16 international destinations on more than 500 daily flights in its announcement of 4 August 2026. Its 6 August announcement puts the network at 48 domestic and 16 international, a total of 64, from 1 September.
Can I earn Maharaja Points on Air India Express?
Yes. Since 22 May 2026, Maharaja Club members earn and redeem points on Air India Express flights across more than 55 destinations. Award tickets start from 1,500 Maharaja Points on selected domestic routes.
What are my rights if an Air India Express flight is delayed or cancelled?
Flights departing India fall under India’s DGCA passenger rights rules, which set out compensation, refund and rebooking entitlements by delay length. Low-cost status does not exempt the airline. Our guide to DGCA passenger rights sets out what you can claim and when.
Sources
- Air India Express press release via Zawya (Guwahati to Dubai and Abu Dhabi launch dates, fleet and network figures)
- Air India Express press release via Zawya (Navi Mumbai to Abu Dhabi launch, schedule and frequency)
- Voyagers World (six new domestic destinations, frequencies and the 64-destination network)
- Khaleej Times (four new Indian cities from Abu Dhabi, including Lucknow)
- IANS (FY26 revenue and net loss figures)
- TTR Weekly (Air India and Saudia memorandum of understanding)
- Air India Maharaja Club (loyalty earning and redemption on Air India Express)
- ch-aviation (737-8 delivery pace and the end of the Boeing stockpile)
- Business Standard (guidance on 2026 aircraft inductions)
- Live From A Lounge (international baggage allowance increase to 30 kg in two pieces)
- Wego flight search data, fares sampled 14 August 2026 (fare figures in the chart)
The information in this article is accurate as of 14 August 2026. Routes, fares and airline policies change frequently, so confirm details with the airline before booking.
