The airline grows to 135 daily departures connecting 23 Indian cities with 12 gateways across West Asia this winter
6-October-2026, Dubai/GCC: Air India Express announced an expanded India–West Asia network as part of its Winter 2026 schedule. The expansion reinforces the airline’s position as one of the largest operators on the India–West Asia corridor.
This winter, Air India Express will operate up to 135 daily departures to West Asia, connecting 23 Indian cities with 12 gateways across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, through 88 non-stop city-pair routes. West Asia remains the largest component of the airline’s international network, which will offer up to 150 daily international departures across 99 destinations worldwide this winter.
Beyond the new routes, the airline continues to expand frequencies on its core West Asia network from hubs and focus cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Kozhikode and Hyderabad, giving guests more choice and convenience on some of the busiest India–West Asia corridors, including to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha, Muscat, Kuwait City and Al Ain.
West Asia remains home to one of the largest overseas Indian communities in the world and Air India Express said the expanded schedule is designed to improve connectivity and choice for guests travelling for work, family and leisure across this corridor, alongside continued investment in fleet modernisation, including the deployment of retrofitted aircraft on several West Asia routes this winter.
This West Asia expansion is part of Air India Express’s largest-ever Winter 2026 schedule, running till 27 March 2027. Alongside growth in West Asia, the airline is adding capacity at its Bengaluru and Delhi hubs, launching new domestic routes, and deploying retrofitted aircraft across the network.
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