Air India Pulls Express Into Maharaja Club, Sharpens Hub Strategy

Air India on Tuesday extended its Maharaja Club loyalty program to flights operated by its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, enabling members to earn and redeem Maharaja Points across more than 55 destinations in South, Southeast, and West Asia.

Redemptions are currently limited to codeshare flights bearing Air India’s “AI” flight designator, with priority benefits, fee waivers, and standalone Air India Express ticketing redemptions deferred to later phases.

Air India Chief Commercial Officer Nipun Aggarwal, who also chairs Air India Express, had previously flagged the loyalty program integration as a priority in the group’s dual-airline strategy.

Redemptions start at 1,500 Maharaja Points for short domestic sectors such as Bengaluru–Chennai, scaling to 12,000 points for international routes including Amritsar–Dubai and Bengaluru–Bangkok.

“The growing scale of the Air India Express network mak