India's flag carrier Air-India will launch a new budget airline to operate to the Gulf and South East Asian regions, parliament was informed Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the Air India Express would offer lower rates on Gulf routes.
"The government has initiated necessary action to designate Air India Express for these operations," he stated.
The Air-India Express will be under the airline's wholly owned subsidiary Air India Charters Limited.
Patel said the budget airline was being introduced to respond to the demands of non-resident Indians in the Gulf for low cost flights.
As for the domestic sector, he said, the fares were deregulated and airlines were free to charge any fare depending on commercial considerations.
In reply to another question, the minister said Air-India and Air-India Express proposed to operate to several additional destinations in US, Canada, Britain, Italy, Russia, Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia, Nigeria, Mauritius, South Africa and Gulf.
--Indo-Asian News Service