"Air India Express and Alliance Air would be merged into a single company. The new company would be called Air India Express," Air India chairman V Thulasidas said on Thursday.

Alliance Air is a subsidiary of Indian while Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India.

Air India Express, which flies to UAE, Oman, Singapore and Sri Lanka, is awaiting the approval from Malaysian government to fly to that country, Thulasidas said on board of newly acquired Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

With this new purchase, Air India Express' fleet goes up to 14. Of them seven are on lease and the rest are owned by the airlines. The lease period runs for five years.

Thulasidas also said the government is considering to change the registration numbers given to aircraft.

All aircraft in India begin their registration with VT. VT means Victoria Territory. The practice of using VT goes back to pre-Independence days.