Search & Buy Air India Flights

Air India Reservations with Alternative Airlines

Flights to and from India

Make an Air India Booking and Find Some Amazing Deals

About Air India

Air India is the flag carrier of India and is India's third largest carrier in terms of passengers carried behind IndiGo and Jet Airways. Air India is owned by Air India Limited, a Government of India enterprise. Air India commenced services in July 1946 after World War II. The Indian flag carrier is headquartered in New Delhi with it's prime hubs located at Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Air India has major domestic hubs at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and secondary hubs at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata and Chennai International Airport. Air India flies to many destinations including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Bangkok, Birmingham, Colombo, Dammam, Dhaka, Dubai, Agartala, Agatti, Agra, Aizwal, Allahabad, Amritsar, Imphal, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Patna, Pantnagar, Port Bliar, Mumbai and many others.

Air India currently operates with a fleet size of 109 aircraft on a variety of aircraft. Their current fleet consists of Airbus A319, A320 and A321's whilst boasting Boeing's 737, 777 and 787's for long haul routes. Air India currently shares codeshare agreements with Adria Airways, Air Astana, Air Canada, Air Mauritius, Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, EgyptAir and many others. Air India became the 27th member to join the Star Alliance in July 2014. The Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. The Sky Alliance has two tiers of their reward's program, Silver and Gold, with incentives including upgrades and priority boarding. The Sky alliance now has 27 members operating with a combined fleet of over 4,000 aircraft serving more than 1,000 airports.

Air India Seat Selection

View Air India seat availability on all flights and get the seat of your choice when you book Air India flight tickets with Alternative Airlines. Alternative Airlines give passengers the option to select their Air India preferred seats through an interactive seat map so that you can sit exactly where you want for the duration of the flight.

Book Air India Flights in English

Search and buy Air India flights in English. Use our simple booking process to find your flights to India with Air India. With Alternative Airlines, you can book flights in English, use the currency of your choice and rely on our trusted customer service team to help you with your booking.

Air India Inflight Entertainment

Air India offers a large number of channels and movies for passenger's inflight entertainment. This service is not currently available on board Airbus aircraft.

Air India TV

Find travel documentaries, popular Hindi shows and cartoons when flying Air India. There's something for every member of the family on board your Air India flight.

Air India Movies

When flying with Air India, you can choose from a range of films including new Hindi releases as well as Bollywood classics. There's also a range of classic Hollywood films as well as foreign language films.

Air India News

29th June 2018

Air India to fly four times a week to Israel

Due to the rise in tourism from Israel to India, the parent company of Air India Express, have increased its frequency of flights from Delhi - Tel Aviv from Three to four days a week. This new growth will be implemented from July 14 this year. Air India will now fly a 256-seater Boeing 787 Dreamliner every Saturday, as well as the already scheduled Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. El Al Israel operates flights between Mumbai and Tel Aviv so there may be hints of increased competition for the Israeli airline. The ministry said another Israeli airline ‘Arkia’ too has also shown interest to operate direct flights between Israel and India to cater to the significant rise in the air traffic volume between the two countries. The flight will take just over 7 hours. 

13th June 2018

Air India and Ethiopian Airlines expand codeshare agreement

At the beginning of this month, Air India will expand its codeshare partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, with the Ethiopian airline operating a total of six routes throughout Africa on behalf of Air India. Air India already have a codeshare agreement with Ethiopian Airlines — in late April, Ethiopian began operating a route between Addis Ababa and Accra as an Air India coded flight.

Ethiopian Airlines will operate the following routes on behalf of Air India:

• From Addis Ababa to Gaborone
• From Addis Ababa to Johannesburg 
• From Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro 
• From Addis Ababa to Mahe Island
• From Addis Ababa to Mombasa
• From Addis Ababa to Zanzibar

6th June 2018

Air India postpones landing 

An Air India flight from Ahmedabad to Mumbai was delayed today due to bad weather. One passenger was so angry at the slight hiccup that he tried to deploy the evacuation slide! The Air India team dealt with the situation very professionally in spite of the monsoon rains hitting the tarmac. This flight in question was diverted to Goa. The escapade with the slide, in fact, caused more delays as they had to wait for a new one to be installed before taking off. Should have left it up to the professionals! 

28th March 2018

Air India began flights from Delhi (DEL) to Tel Aviv (TLV) on 22 March.

The new 4,046-kilometre sector will be operated three times weekly with 787-8s. The Indian flag carrier faces no incumbent competition on this airport pair.

The route will be the fastest non-stop flight between India and Israel due to Air India being granted permission to fly through Saudi Arabian airspace. This is currently the only route the Indian carrier is scheduled to operate to Tel Aviv in S18

29th January 2018

Air India launch UK's only direct Amritsar service from Birmingham

Air India is introducing a twice weekly non-stop service to Amritsar from Birmingham Airport with the inaugural flight launching on February 20.

This will be the UK’s only direct service to Amritsar.

This new route complements the airline’s popular Delhi service which started in August 2013.

The service has carried more than 600,000 passengers in the four years it has operated.

Amritsar will be a popular route allowing direct access to the major commercial and cultural centre in the heart of the Punjab and the home of the Golden Temple.William Pearson, Aviation Director, Birmingham Airport, commented: “It is great news that we will have direct non-stop connections to two Indian cities from Birmingham Airport with Air India.

"With over 200,000 British-Indian people who travel to India each year to visit friends and relatives, and for tourism and business interests, this additional destination shows the large demand within the region for direct Amritsar services from the Midlands.

"Air India has been a successful partner for over four years and offers great connections to India with services operated by the new Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft.”

Mr Pankaj Srivastava, Director, Commercial and Board Member of Air India, said: “We are delighted that we are commencing direct services between Birmingham and Amritsar twice weekly, starting in February, recognising the consumer demand from the Midlands’ region to Amritsar, Punjab.

"Air India is always very sensitive to the needs of the consumer and is pleased to be connecting the two important cities thereby adding a new city pairing for Air India’s expanding global network with the only non-stop UK Amritsar service.”

Mr Vishwanath Panyam, Senior Assistant, General Manager, Air India said: "This service is in response to long standing demands between the Punjab and the UK Midlands. We expect this flight to be very popular and may lead to future growth.”

This flight will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, departing Birmingham at 6.45pm, reaching Amritsar early the next morning at 7:45am.

21st September 2017

Air India plans to rationalise routes & contracts

Air India's new chairman and managing director, Rajiv Bansal, has outlined his plans to help turn the national airline around ahead of its planned privatisation. Speaking with The Press Trust of India, Bansal has said that routes operated by the carrier and its subsidiaries – Air India Express (IX, Mumbai Int'l) and Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) – will be rationalised, to avoid competition within the group and cut costs.

"We have to ensure that we don't compete which means that it is not that Air India or Air India Express withdraws but we can work with the timings. Wherever the passenger loads are not justified, either Air India or its subsidiaries can withdraw," Bansal said.

He noted that particularly for short-haul flights, Air India should "concede space to Alliance Air".

In a separate interview with the Financial Express, Bansal said that he is also looking to optimise contracts with vendors and suppliers. Bansal's focus is on small but steady progress, with savings to be pursued no matter how small.

"We must continue to chip away at the cost factor. My approach is to take one important initiative a week in this regard. It may be for as low as INR10-20 crore (USD1.5 – 3 million)," Bansal said. The Chairman is also confident of securing government-backed short-term loans of INR30 billion (USD466 million) to settle outstanding bills and put the carrier in a position to renegotiate terms.

Bansal did however rule out selling off Air India's slots. "Slots are our biggest assets. We don't want to surrender any slots," he said.

Describing his overall strategy in relation to Air India's proposed privatisation, Bansal is clear. "My mandate is to run the airline profitability and on commercial considerations. Apart from savings we are also aggressively looking for revenue optimisation, route rationalisation, better deployment of our assets and to add some new international routes in the short term."

Air India has been suffering from mounting debts and poor management for several years, and is currently surviving on government bailouts ahead of its planned disinvestment.

Source: ch-aviation

19th September 2017

Air India arrived in Copenhagen later the same day, beginning the three times weekly service from the Indian capital. Among the celebrations were a cake and ribbon cutting ceremony. Seen partaking in the cutting of the cake are: Morten Mortensen, Director of Airlines Sales and Route Development, Copenhagen Airport; Thomas Woldbye, CEO Copenhagen Airport; Rajiv Bansal, Chairman and MD, Air India; and Pankaj Srivastava, Commercial Director, Air India.

Air India has made Copenhagen (CPH) its second destination in Scandinavia after Stockholm Arlanda and its first in Denmark, with the Star Alliance member starting a three times weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) service from Delhi (DEL) on 16 September. “If there is one airline that is happy to expand its network to the world’s highest-ranking country on the happiness index, then it’s Air India,” said Pankaj Srivastava, Commercial Director of Air India at a ceremony at the Danish airport. “This new route to India is a historic breakthrough. The number of returning Indians has doubled worldwide over a few years. 

The 5,837-kilometre route will be flown by Air India on its fleet of 787-8s. With this launch, Air India now serves 10 destinations in Europe from Delhi, with Copenhagen joining Birmingham, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Madrid, Milan Malpensa, Paris CDG, Rome Fiumicino, Stockholm Arlanda and Vienna.  

23rd August 2017

Air India passengers can carry up to 25 kilograms baggage without extra charges

The new offer is a move by the carrier to attract more passengers as India sees a surge in number of air travellers. The airline's staff evacuated passengers from the flight after the bomb threat hoax

Moneycontrol News

Air India will allow its passengers to carry up to 25 kilograms of baggage without levying any additional charges. 

“#carrymaximum with #AI. A whopping 25kg extra baggage allowance at #NoExtraCost only with #AirIndia. #FlyAI” said the tweet which came out on Sunday. The new offer is a move by the carrier to attract more passengers. The debt-ridden Air India is looking to find solution to get out of the present situation, including privatisation.

The aviation industry has been witnessing a growth in traffic in the last few months. As per government data, 95.65 lakh people travelled in domestic market last July. The number is over 17 percent higher compared to the same period last year when the sector saw 85.08 lakh passengers.

Cashing in on this growth many airlines have announced attractive offers including discounts. AirAsia India, which is a joint venture between Air Asia and Tata is already offering tickets at Rs 999 as part of a limited period promotional scheme.

Air India too had earlier in the month offered tickets starting at Rs 425 for certain domestic flights along with Rs 7000 tickets for selected international flights.

30th June 2017

Air India flights from Lucknow to more cities

From July 5, Lucknow will get connected to Jaipur, Bhopal, Dehradun by air.

Air India has decided to operate 72 seat small passenger aircraft with moderate fares ranging between Rs 2200 to Rs 2800 between these cities, in an aggressive move to tap the air traffic in unexplored sectors.

These flights have got approval of director-general of civil aviation (DGCA) and the Airport Authority of India (AAI), said a source.

22nd June 2017

The Tata group, which founded India’s first commercial airline, Air India, is considering buying a stake in the debt-laden national carrier in partnership with Singapore Airlines. The Tata group and Singapore Airlines launched Vistara in 2015. The joint-venture airline will start plying international routes next year. It is not certain the government will go ahead with the “privatisation process” or that Tatas will take over the airline. However, it can’t be denied that the groundwork for a possible divestment is being put in place.

A committee of civil aviation authorities has sent its views on Air India’s divestment to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam), said an aviation ministry official who did not want to be named. In the next step, a note prepared by Dipam will have to be approved by the Union cabinet. Once the cabinet gives its approval, specifics related to how much stake should be sold and how, will be decided.

“We are far from that stage,” the ministry official added, referring to the sale process.

The Union cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday but it is unclear if the national airline’s privatisation plan will be part of the agenda. Finance minister Jaitley is currently on a three-day visit to Russia to boost defence ties. Choubey, who has been part of the deliberations including those related to Air India’s asset valuation, is also in Paris this week for the ongoing air show.

In 2000, the Tata group and Singapore Airlines had expressed their interest in acquiring up to 40% of Air India. In 2013, after a meeting with the then aviation minister, Ratan Tata said the Tata group would be interested in buying a stake in Air India if the government were to privatise the airline.

22nd May 2017

Air India will launch non-stop flights on Delhi-Stockholm route from 15th August.

The services will be operated 3 x Weekly (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays). Each flight will approximately be an 8 hour duration on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

On the last Independance Day, Air India had launched services from Ahmedabad - London - New York route.

12th May 2017

Air India will unveil flights to three new destinations in the U.S., Stockholm, Nairobi and Tel Aviv this year

Making it the fifth non-stop destination in the United States, a direct service would start to Washington from July 7, followed by a flight to Los Angeles from September 1 and then to Dallas.

Air India will begin service to Stockholm from August 15. Mr. Lohani said it would also start flights to Tel Aviv, Nairobi and Dallas this year.

10th May 2017

Air India has stepped up its international expansion plans to the US, Europe and will debut in Kenya in 2017

The Air India flight to Kenya will be the first in recent years. The country hosts a sizeable Indian origin population and has strong trade ties with India. Air India already connects Chicago, New York, Newark and San Francisco with direct flights, some of the longest in the world at over 15 hours. The Washington flights will be on Boeing 777 planes.

Over the past 5 years, the airline has expanded its network by launching new flights to Madrid, Rome, Milan and Vienna beyond its traditional European destinations of London and Frankfurt. It will also launch new flights from Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata, to Bangkok in May.

Air India, with a fleet of 140 planes, controls nearly 15% of the domestic market and at 17% has the single largest share of international traffic into and out of India.

2nd May 2017

Dubai Aerospace will lease 10 ATR 72-600 aircraft to a subsidiary of Air India
The long-term lease agreements were signed with Alliance Air and the aircraft will be delivered this year, DAE said in a statement. Last month, DAE announced it was acquiring Dublin-based AWAS, the world's tenth largest aircraft lessor.

12th April 2017

Air India to establish Aviation University

Air India plans to establish an aviation university, in order to provide several programmes which can also be an additional revenue stream for it in the long term. Airline officials said that the national carrier has already started exploring various options for having a university. The idea is to have an institution that offers a range of aviation training programmes for pilots, cabin crew, operations and engineering staff, among others, they said.

4th April 2017

Air India proposals approved for a new Boeing 787-9 for US route plans

Air India have had their proposals approved as they seek to introduce a new Boeing 787-9 aircraft for future route plans to the US, as well as launching routes to Canada.

30th March 2017

Air India announces new flight service to Washington

From July 2017, Air India will fly directly to Washington from Delhi, flying 3 times weekly. This route will be flown on a Boeing 777-200 LR, with 8 seats in First Class, 35 in Business Class and 195 in Economy Class.

6th March 2017
Air India plans to commence flights to Tel Aviv, Israel’s capital from May 2017

5th March 2017
Air India has set the Guinness World-record by flying around the world with an all-female crew.
Along with female pilots and cabin crew, the ground staff, including bag handlers, air traffic controllers and engineers were also women.

The journey on Friday (Mar 3) on a Boeing 777-200LR covered around 15,300km.

The airline said the trip was “another feather to Air India's cap in its constant endeavor to encourage women”.

---

The Fleet

 

 

Find Out More

Alternative Airlines is an Online Travel Agency bonded by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). We specialise in finding the best available fares on the widest range of airlines and making them available to you online, with prices in the currency of your choice.

Alternative Airlines handles all your travel arrangements and payments, complete with ticketed confirmation. We do not direct you to other websites or service providers.

We help you through the process. This is what makes us Alternative Airlines.

Browse for flights, find some amazing deals, make a reservation and pay in the currency of your choice today with Alternative Airlines.

Let Alternative Airlines help find you the best prices and make international and domestic flight reservations with us today.

Join Alternative Airlines Members Club and get £100.00 back on your 5th booking with Alternative Airlines. You will have insight to many benefits and exclusive deals on over 450 airlines. Click on the Members section on the Alternative Airlines website for more information and join today.

We are open every day from 8am until 8pm (UK local time)

READ MORE ABOUT AIR INDIA

How to pay

You can pay for your flights with Air India in the currency and payment method of your choice when booking through Alternative Airlines.

We accept PayPal making flight purchases with Air India easy and more secure for customers. PayPal is one of the leading forms of online payment, with more than 169 million accounts worldwide.

How to pay with PayPal