Akasa Air receives its first aircraft

New Indian low cost carrier, Akasa Air, has received its first aircraft.

The airline accepted the Boeing 737-8 MAX at Boeing’s base in Seattle.

The privately owned Indian carrier has ordered seventy two (72) 737 MAX aircraft. This includes an initial delivery of 18 aircraft by March 2023, followed by delivery of the remaining 54 aircraft over the course of the next four years.

Akasa Air’s order includes two variants of the 737 MAX:

  • the 737-8, with 189 seats
  • the high-capacity 737-8-200, with 197 seats
Akasa Air first aircraft in the carrier’s colours

Routes

The carrier plans to start commercial operations in summer 2022.

But even now there are known destinations.

Initial services are expected to be from metro cities (population over 1 million) to tier-2 (population 50,000 to 99,999) and tier-3 cities (population 20,000 to 49,999).

The airline is likely to operate to destinations including Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Airlines in India

Akasa Air will be the ninth Indian airline. The others are:

  • AirAsia India (I5)
  • Air India (AI)
  • Air India Express (IX)
  • Go First (G8)
  • Indigo (6E)
  • Jet Airways (9W)
  • SpiceJet (SG)
  • Vistara (UK)

Air India, Jet Airways and Vistara are full service, the others are low cost.

N.B. Image credit: Akasa Air

Internet links

Akasa Air (QP)

Boeing 737 MAX