Dubai, Oct 7 (IANS) India’s national low-cost carrier Air India Express is planning to expand its operations to Qatar, its regional head said.F.D. Warden, National Aviation Co of India’s executive director for the Middle East and Africa, told the Gulf Times that the airline was first giving priority to increasing the frequency of its flights from Qatar to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

“Then, we are also actively considering to launch services to Chennai,” he was quoted as saying.

The airline currently operates 13 flights a week from the Qatari capital Doha to various destinations in India, offering a total of 4,000 seats.

Its operation to Thiruvananthapuram is currently limited to a weekly flight.

According to Warden, additional flights to the Kerala capital can be tied up with flights to either Kochi in Kerala or Mangalore in Karnataka.

“If market conditions warrant more stand-alone flights from Doha, we will do that as well,” he said.

A large number of the 420,000 expatriate Indians in Qatar hail from Kerala.