With a visibly improved supply situation at aircraft manufacturer Boeing, low-cost airline Akasa AirAkasa Air is aiming to close the year with an expanded fleet of 40 aircraft. The Mumbai-based airline had ended FY25 with a fleet of 27 Boeing 737 jets.
“The supplies have eased quite a bit and we are getting deliveries regularly now. We are looking at a total of around 40 aircraft by the end of FY26,” said a company source.
Accelerated fleet expansion and market impact
Taking its first flight in 2022, Akasa has completed three years in service in August. Its aircraft induction pace has already surpassed that of current market leader IndiGo, which had 24 aircraft in service in the first three years of its operation.
“We are at 30 aircraft today,” Vinay Dube, founder and CEO, Akasa Air, told FE in an interaction though declining to provide aircraft induction guidance for the year.
“But we can say confidently that we have a strong relationship with Boeing and they continue to deliver to our expectations,” Dube added.
Boeing has been under intense scrutiny of its regulator since the past several months after multiple incidents of non-compliance in manufacturing processes. This substantially impacted delivery schedules of the planes to its customers, throwing their market expansion plans in disarray.
Unlike rivals like IndiGo and Air India Express, who have Airbus short-haul planes in their inventory, Akasa’s fleet entirely comprises the B737s in single aisle, single class (economy) configuration.
Its fleet grew by just 3 planes in FY25 from a total of 24 planes in FY24. The faster pace of new aircraft induction in FY26 compared to FY25 has made up for the muted pace marked in the previous year.
When asked to provide a review of the pace of new aircraft induction, Dube said, “It is not better or worse because we had a plan to reach 20 planes. After that the plan was to have a slightly lower growth rate for the next two years and then start a greater delivery streak. We are more or less on that plan.”
“Compared to earlier, we have a lot of comfort now for long-term planning,” Dube added.
Overcoming past hurdles to fuel future growth
With the pace of plane supplies back on track, Akasa is upping the speed of route expansion. The airline has added three destinations – Darbhanga, Kozhikode, Phuket – this year so far. It will start flying in and out of airports of Navi Mumbai and Noida in a few months bringing the count to five.
In September 2023, Akasa faced a pilot shortage, leading to curtailed flight operations. Since then the airline has stepped up recruitment and is now sitting on a sufficient pool of pilots.
“We have got just short of 800 pilots which is plenty for not just the existing fleet but for the growth that we foresee. Most of the pilots are logging (flying) hours already. 100% of the strength will start logging hours in the next 90 days,” Dube added.