Air India's three domestic destinations to be operated by AirAsia India

Full service airline Air India on Tuesday said three of its domestic destinations will now be operated by the budget carrier AirAsia India as part of the route network rationalisation plan.

AirAsia India, which currently operates 19 domestic destinations, became a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Group last November. The group has already announced its merger with Air India subsidiary Air India Express to create a low-cost airline.

In the current phase, three stations -- Bhubaneswar, Bagdogra and Surat -- will now be served by AirAsia India, instead of Air India.

At the same time, flight services on Delhi-Visakhapatnam and Mumbai-Lucknow routes will be operated exclusively by Air India, the airline said.

In all cases, the flight frequency remains the same, it added

Additionally, Air India will enhance connections from Delhi and/or Mumbai to Cochin, Trivandrum, Visakhapatnam and Nagpur to enable seamless, two-way domestic-international connectivity with long-haul international flights operating from the two metros.

The airline said it will also increase frequencies between Delhi and Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai, and Kolkata and Bengaluru, starting from February 13, 2023.