Air India Express, AirAsia India commence interline bookings: Here's how it will benefit travellers

Air India Express, AirAsia India interline bookings: Air India Express and AirAsia India have announced the beginning of interline bookings, as part of an agreement between the two Tata Group airlines, to enable customers have a seamless travel on their entire domestic and international network amid the ongoing merger process. Under this feature, fliers will be able to book a single itinerary for both airlines, including a single PNR (Passenger Name Record) on the common website and other OTAs (Online Travel Agents) and travel partners, a joint statement by the two airlines said on Monday.

Budget carrier AirAsia India, which has been rechristened as AIX Connect, flies on domestic routes, while Air India Express operates on overseas routes — and the two are in the process of integrating and merging.

How will Air India Express, AirAsia India interline bookings work?

1) As per the airline. the fliers will able to book a single itinerary for both airlines.

2) This includes one single PNR (Passenger Name Record) on the common website and other OTAs (Online Travel Agents) and travel partners.

3) Along with a single PNR facility, the passenger will also receive a single boarding pass at the departing airport when undertaking a domestic journey on AirAsia India flight and a connecting international flight with Air India Express.

4) Customs and immigration formalities will need to be done at the airport from where the connecting flight is being undertaken.

5) Baggage can be labelled to the final destination.

For instance, with the interline arrangement, passenegrs can book a Lucknow – Delhi – Sharjah itinerary under a single PNR (Passenger Name Record) and receive their boarding passes for both Lucknow to Delhi and Delhi to Sharjah, at the beginning of their journey in Lucknow itself. 

Talking about this development, Aloke Singh, Managing Director, Air India Express and AirAsia India, commented, “Our ongoing efforts towards integrating Air India Express and AirAsia India, even as we proceed with the full merger, is now bearing fruit, with a strong, integrated network emerging. The network footprint stretches across India, Gulf & the Middle East, and Southeast Asia and will be further strengthened with our forthcoming fleet expansion. The interline arrangement enables guests to seamlessly book and connect across sectors operated by the two airlines, as if it were already one network. This is just the beginning of the remarkable value proposition we aim to deliver, and we look forward to further enriching travel experiences.”

Earlier this year, the two carriers unveiled a joint website, enabling users to book, manage services and check-in to flights from both airlines across domestic and international routes with an integrated back-end passenger service system.

AirAsia India flies over 50 direct and over 100 connecting routes across 19 destinations in India: Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Imphal, Guwahati, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknow, Surat, Bagdogra, Ranchi, and Srinagar.

Air India Express operates to 14 international destinations: Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Muscat, Salalah, Sharjah, Singapore, Ras-Al-Khaimah, Riyadh, & Jeddah, from 18 Indian cities: Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore, Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Mumbai, Amritsar, Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Madurai, Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Kannur, Surat, & Hyderabad.