AI Express to phase out biz class seats by 2025; to have 100 planes by Dec

Air India Express, which is set to complete the merger of AIX Connect with itself next month, will phase out business class seats in its aircraft in 2025, according to a senior airline official.

Currently, the carrier, part of Tata Group, has a fleet of 85 aircraft -- 25 A320 family planes and 60 Boeing 737s. By year-end, the total number is expected to be around 100.

The airline has 34 white tail Boeing 737-8 aircraft and out of them, 29 have business class seats of varying numbers. Their count will rise to 50 by the end of this year.

Generally, white tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline.

The airline official told PTI that aircraft with the business class seats will be phased out by reconfiguring them next year as business class does not fit into the Air India Express model.

These white tail aircraft have varying number of business class seats, the official added.

In the existing fleet of Air India ..