There is a new Indian carrier slated to take to the skies in 2022, Akasa Air. It aspires to conquer its own place in what is already a competitive market with numerous low-cost players, so what is this new airline about? Akasa Air plans a launch in mid-2022 as a no-frills carrier. Akasa Air is the brainchild of Vinay Dube, who used to work with Delta Air Lines, before returning to India to take on the CEO position at Jet Airways. After Jet Airways went under, he worked for GoAir (now known as Go First) for a bit, before deciding to take the entrepreneurial plunge. Akasa Air is backed financially by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who is frequently equated with Warren Buffet in India. The airline placed a firm order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft at the Dubai Airshow in 2021, along with CFM LEAP engines. Akasa is making use of a simple gap in demand and supply in the Indian market. Boeing, while being the market leader in India for wide-body aircraft operations, has relatively low penetration in the domestic narrow-body market after Jet Airways went under. SpiceJet is the only customer for their 737 MAX aircraft, with Vistara and Air India Express using the NG aircraft in their fleet, and no other orders are expected to be placed anytime soon. The Airbus order book for the A320neo-family, as we learnt from the Allegiant deal recently, is booked up until 2026. With the selection of the Boeing 737 MAX, Akasa may have taken over early delivery slots left behind by Jet Airways, and maybe even picked up some whitetails from the inventory as well. After all, deliveries are supposed to start in Q2/Q3 2022. In terms of pilots operating these aircraft, there are many from erstwhile Jet Airways, as well as the financially beleaguered SpiceJet who might want to join in. Akasa intends to offer a better standard Akasa intends to be a no-frills carrier, joining the ranks of IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go First and AirAsia India which already operate in this space and have over 80 percent market share of India's domestic market. Akasa, however, intends to differentiate by providing a better standard of care and service to everyone who boards its aircraft. How they execute this remains to be seen. Akasa Air ordered 72 MAX at last November's Dubai Airshow. Second on the right and next to Boeing's Stan Deal is the airline's CEO, Vinay Dube. (Boeing) is The airline will go with the 737 MAX 8 aircraft in a 186-seat configuration for the first twenty aircraft and will move to a 197-seater configuration aircraft with the 737 MAX-8-200 after that. The high-density version is the same as inducted in its fleet by Ryanair already and recently selected by Allegiant Air too. The airline intends to take delivery of its first aircraft in April and receive its Air Operators Permit with this aircraft. From there, they intend to build their fleet quickly, adding roughly two aircraft a month in year one and then one aircraft a month after March 2023. Focus on Tier 2 and 3 markets In terms of its network strategy, Akasa intends to focus on Tier 2/Tier 3 markets. It will fly Tier 1 segments as well, such as between Mumbai and Delhi, but would like to focus on the markets that lie beyond the Indian metropolises, for instance, Chandigarh, Bhopal and Pune. India has a rule which requires an Indian air carrier to have at least twenty aircraft in their fleet before starting international operations. Akasa intends to fly to neighbouring markets when it can as well, such as the Middle-East and South-East Asia. However, no firm plans have been made yet on that aspect. One of the ways Akasa is differentiating itself from the others is by bringing in a very experienced team, all of whom have been given stakes in the airline, and co-founder titles as well. Many of the founding team executives are from the leadership team of erstwhile Jet Airways. Joining them on the board will be Aditya Ghosh, who was President at IndiGo for over ten years before moving on. While Ghosh will not take on a formal position at the carrier, he is expected to be helping with his insights into the Indian market in all aspects. Akasa has a lot going for it at the moment in terms of a solid founding team and the backing of deep-pocketed investors, apart from Boeing who is looking to gain an equal footing in the country again. It is notable that the other carriers are watching from the sidelines about how will Akasa differentiate itself in this very difficult Indian market, which has seen many airlines start operations, but few build into behemoths.
