Akasa Air aims to commence flights as soon as early June, first aircraft expected in April

Akasa Air will take off as a low-cost carrier,and has placed order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX planes, which are fuel efficient.

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Akasa Air aims to take to the skies in late May or early June as it gets its first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in April. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed carrier looks forward to having 18 planes in its fleet by the end of March 2023.

Despite Covid-19 clouds continuing to cast a shadow on the airlines, Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube is more than optimistic. He said, "if you look at the long-term future of commercial aviation in India, it is as exciting as anywhere in the world." Interacting with sources over a video call, Dube said the Indian aviation pie is growing and the idea of Akasa Air is to look through what we are currently facing. "This is temporary. This too shall pass".

The civil aviation space, especially the airlines, has been significantly impacted by the pandemic, and the emergence of the Omicron variant has dealt another blow to the recovery path of the sector. Akasa Air, which will take off as a low-cost carrier, has placed an order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX planes, which are fuel-efficient. To begin with, Akasa Air will have services from metros to Tier II and III cities. There will also be flights from metros to metros so that the aircraft is moved around the system, Dube noted.

Being professionally managed, competitive cost structure, customer satisfaction, employees being happy and the airline being financially healthy will be among the key elements for Akasa Air. "We hope to get our first aircraft in the second half of April, the first commercial flight in late May or early June... We are working with the government, DGCA to go through all of the requirements that are there," Dube said.

Dube, who is also the Founder and Managing Director, said the airline has started hiring people, setting up technology, creating processes and procedures, defining things related to customer value and propositions, and planning route networks with airports. Currently, the carrier has more than 50 staff. "Part of the reason we are bullish about aviation is that few people have historically flown in India compared to most Western economies. All of that is going to change in the coming years and we want to be part of that change. We want to enable that change and continue to democratize air travel," Dube said.

As per officials, international services are very much part of Akasa Air's plans. Dube said the airline targets to start overseas flights in the second half of the calendar year 2023 once there are 20 planes in its fleet. Under Indian regulations, a domestic airline should have at least 20 aircraft in its fleet before it can commence international flights.

"Boeing 737 MAX gives us good range. We can fly to SouthEast Asia, SAARC countries, the Middle East... That is our intention," he said. Last year, Akasa Air, a brand of SNV Aviation, placed an order for 737 MAX planes with Boeing. The order was valued at nearly USD 9 billion at list prices and includes 737-8 and high-capacity 737-8-200 aircraft. On what will be the selling proposition for the airline, he said, "you got to be dependable" and in his words, the role of technology and analytics will be massive.

"Whether it is fuel, leasing, people, airports, maintenance, for all of them, technology, data, analytics can move the needle 1-2 percent to 5-10 percent for each of these cost elements. For us, that is very very important. It is going to be massive," he said. Further, he noted that data and analytics are not just linked to cost structure but are also extremely important even for customer service offerings, commercial aspects, revenue generation aspects. "We are going to make sure queue times are low and have a good sort of customer experience... Reliability, warmth, and affordability from the customers' perspective," he emphasized. 

With inputs from PTI