Akasa Air, India’s most dependable and affordable airline completed one year of commercial operations in the Indian skies. The airline operated its first commercial flight on 07 August 2022 from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, presenting an empathetic service culture, more affordable choices and greater connectivity to Indians, ushering in a new phase of growth for Indian aviation.
With an initial fleet induction plan of adding one brand new aircraft every 15 days, Akasa Air has created the record of becoming one of the fastest growing airlines in the 120-year history of global aviation by virtue of achieving a fleet size of 20 new aircraft within 12 months of commercial operations. Further, the delivery of its 20th aircraft on 1 August 2023, makes Akasa Air the first airline in Asia to add the 737-8-200 variant of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to its rapidly expanding fleet. Akasa Air’s order book comprises 76 jets which include 23 737-8s and 53 737-8-200 airplanes. In addition, the airline remains fully committed to placing a three-digit aircraft order by the end of 2023.
Commenting on the milestone, Vinay Dube, Founder and CEO, Akasa Air, said, “We feel extremely fulfilled to have successfully executed our ambitious and unprecedented scale-up over the last 12 months. As we have grown and delivered to our plans, Akasa Air has become the preferred carrier for an increasing number of travellers across the country. The Akasa story is a testament of India’s ongoing economic transformation and that of the country’s rapidly progressing civil aviation landscape. We are even more proud of the manner in which we have grown. Our disciplined approach and value-based culture has helped us become one of the most reliable, employee centric, customer obsessed and sustainable companies in the country, with an unflinching commitment to safety that has underpinned all our operations to date. Our first year has given us a strong operating and financial platform to execute on our continued growth ambitions”.
“We have many people to thank in this journey of planning and execution. First, I want to thank every member of the Akasa family, who bring in vast experience from global aviation and who have dedicated themselves to our shared vision and our collective success. The trust and dedication that the women and men of Akasa have placed in our organisation, has made every day of these last 12 months possible.
We are grateful for our partners who have placed immense trust in our plans and supported us in our seamless execution. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have had the DGCA’s continuous support on all the required regulatory guidance to date and the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s steadfast drive to propel the growth of this industry. Above all, I want to take this opportunity to thank the late and great Mr. Jhunjhunwala, who seeded the ability that enables us to deliver on our ambitious roadmap. We cannot thank him enough for being an early believer and for putting his faith in us to build a world-class airline”, he added.
“Our first year has built the foundation for the long term, and we feel incredibly optimistic as we continue to invest in our future – one that we hope will serve generations of Indians for a long time to come”, Vinay concluded.
