Akasa Air has placed an order for 150 Boeing B737MAX aircraft. The order was announced today at Wings India 2024 which is being held at Hyderabad’s Begumpet Airport this week.
Finally!
After a lot of waiting, the day is finally here! Akasa Air has announced a “three-digit” aircraft order with Boeing which it has been teasing for quite a while now. The airline will take delivery of 150 B737MAX aircraft, split between B737MAX-8-200 and B737MAX-10. The exact number of each aircraft type has not been revealed.
This large and historic aircraft order puts Akasa on a path of becoming one of the top 30 leading airlines in the world, by the turn of this decade. Akasa’s remarkable growth testifies the sheer promise that India holds as an aviation market, and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey. These additions to our fleet will help us bolster the strength of our operations as we expand our footprint and foray into international skies in the very near future. Each addition to our fleet brings us closer to our purpose of connecting people, places, and cultures. We are confident in our ability to be able to serve millions of satisfied travellers across the globe, as we step into the next phase of our growth.
said Vinay Dube, Founder and CEO, Akasa Air.
With this order, Akasa Air has secured delivery slots for B737MAXs until 2032. And with this order, the first of its kind made at an airshow in India, Akasa Air becomes the only Indian airline in the history of civil aviation to reach an order book of over 200 aircraft within a span of 17 months of commencing operations.
In 2021, Akasa Air had placed its initial order of 72 B737MAX aircraft, which was followed up with an order of 4 more aircraft in June 2023. This new deal takes the airline’s order book to an impressive total of 226 aircraft. The carrier currently operates a fleet of 22 aircraft and will receive deliveries of a total of 204 more aircraft over the course of eight years.
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Trustable?
It seems that Akasa Air is going the IndiGo way. The latter only operates Airbus A320 family aircraft (with ATR for regional operations). Akasa Air has until now stuck with B737MAX and will continue to operate that aircraft type, at least for the foreseeable future.
Boeing, lately, has faced a lot of criticism from the industry stakeholders and all the people involved, mainly because of the production quality issues which surfaced after a Plug-in door from a Alaska Airlines B737MAX-9 aircraft blew out during a flight. Before that, the two crashes of Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air of B737MAX-8 in 2018 had already tarnished the image of B737MAX aircraft.
Boeing is currently trying to make its way back in in the narrow body market in India, which is currently dominated by Airbus. With this new order and Air India Express’ order for 190 B737MAX, it seems that the American aircraft manufacturer is back in the game. All eyes now will be on how the B737MAX program evolves from here on, and what impact will B737MAX operators around the world have due to it.
Growing
Akasa Air is preparing to start international flights soon. The airline has missed its target to launch international operations already but is looking to do so as soon as possible and as it gets more aircraft. The airline has been allocated flying rights for flights to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. SouthEast Asia, Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Africa are within the Boeing B737MAX’s range and the airline says that these regions are the ones targeted by Akasa.
Meanwhile, Akasa Air recently announced the addition of Ayodhya to its network as its 18th destination.
Featured image by Akasa Air
What do you think of Akasa Air once again placing an order for B737MAX? Let me know in the comments section below.
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