Air India Express to be rebranded; to move headquarters to Thiruvananthapuram

Air India reportedly plans to rebrand Air India Express and move the carrier's headquarters from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram as part of efforts to restructuring its operational and marketing strategies to reduce losses and debt levels (LiveMint, 25-Oct-2010). The carrier has already announced plans to rename its holding company, National Aviation Co of India Ltd (Nacil) to Air India Ltd. Its regional airline service, tentatively named India Hopper, will also be renamed, with COO Gustav Baldauf added that "Air India is "considering a new name for Air India Express as a part of branding" with the carrier to appoint a consultant for the rebranding efforts. Mr Baldauf aslo announced the appointment of Stephan Sukumar, a former Chief Flight Training instructor at Lufthansa as its new Chief Training Officer.