Akasa to start flying from Aug 7, ticket bookings open for certain routes

The airline said it has future plans to have a pan India presence, especially in the tier-2 and tier-3 centres.
India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.  (File Photo)
India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: A month after receiving its air operator certificate (AOC), Akasa Air, India’s newest airline, is launching its maiden commercial flight on August 7. Akasa on Friday opened ticket bookings with initial networks in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Kochi.

The airline will launch its operations by offering 28 weekly flights between Mumbai and Ahmedabad starting August 7, 2022. Following this, starting August 13, it will start operating an additional 28 weekly flights between Bengaluru and Kochi. All flights are open for sale with immediate effect.

The airline said it has future plans to have a pan India presence, especially in the tier-2 and tier-3 centres. Praveen Iyer, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air said, “Akasa Air’s network strategy is focused on establishing a strong pan-India presence and providing linkages from metro to tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country.

We will adopt a phased approach to support our network expansion plans, progressively connecting more cities, as we add two aircraft to our fleet each month, in our first year”. Akasa has two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in its fleet and will be adding two of these planes every month till March 2023. The billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed airline in November last year inked a deal with Boeing to purchase 72 Max aircraft.

Now that Akasa has entered the civil aviation space, it will have to face fierce competition from market leader IndiGo whose market share in the domestic market rose to 56.9% in June, as per DGCA data.
“IndiGo has a reputation of killing competition by offering tickets at lower prices in sectors where other airlines see an opportunity. It will be very interesting to see how Akasa, which is full of aviation veterans, carves a niche for itself and remains profitable,” an industry analyst said, requesting anonymity.

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The New Indian Express
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