Tata Group has brought about an expansion plan for Air India and Air India Express. The plan includes inducting six Boeing 777-200 aircraft and 25 Airbus A320 Neos by the first quarter of next year. In the final stages of closing orders for around 200 narrowbody and widebody jets, Tata Group is planning to take aircraft from the secondary lease market to strengthen capacity in the short term.

Boeing 777 aircraft will be leased from Delta, a US-based airline. The aircraft is more likely to join the fleet by October and will be running on the India-US route. These aircraft have long-range and thus can connect South Indian cities to US west coast without any load penalty.

The narrowbody A320 Neo jets will be leased from the secondary market and will join the fleet next year to increase capacity on domestic routes. Reportedly, these aircraft are leased for a shorter duration to bridge the demand-supply gap.

Air India Express is also increasing capacity by taking five Boeing 737 aircraft from sister company Vistara. Air India Express operates mostly on India-Middle East routes. Headquartered in Kochi, It is operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian airline Air India.

Currently, Tata Group operates three airlines in India– Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara airlines which hold a 24% share of the Indian aviation market.