Akasa Air

Akasa Air is an Indian low-cost airline based in Mumbai. It flew its first commercial service on 7 August 2022, from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, with two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Four years on it is still an all-737 MAX, all-economy operation that sells meals, seat selection and flexibility as extras.

The airline was put together in 2021 by a team of former Jet Airways and Go First executives, including Vinay Dube, now managing director and chief executive, and Aditya Ghosh. The investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala took a large minority stake in July 2021; as of late 2023 the Jhunjhunwala estate held 45.97% of the airline. The Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a no-objection certificate in October 2021, the brand and its orange "rising A" logo were unveiled on 22 December 2021, and the DGCA granted the air operator's certificate on 7 July 2022.

Early setbacks

The ramp-up was not smooth. In August and September 2023 Akasa cancelled more than 700 flights after a group of pilots left, many of them for Air India Express, and the airline took legal action against both the pilots and the regulator. It recovered and, after receiving permission in December 2023, started international flying on 28 March 2024 with Mumbai–Doha. It joined IATA on 8 January 2025 and has a codeshare agreement with Etihad Airways, announced in December 2024.

One aircraft family, bought in large blocks

Akasa's fleet plan rests on Boeing's 737 MAX. The launch order, placed at the Dubai Airshow on 16 November 2021, covered 72 aircraft, mostly the higher-density 737-8200 alongside the standard MAX 8. Four more MAX 8s followed at the 2023 Paris Air Show, and on 18 January 2024 the airline added 150 aircraft, 99 of them the larger 737 MAX 10. The airline now describes a firm order book of 226 737 MAX aircraft.

Deliveries have arrived in a steady stream. Akasa said it ended the financial year on 30 March 2026 with 37 aircraft, after six deliveries in the first quarter of calendar 2026, and the 42nd aircraft, a 737-8200 registered VT-YBS, joined the fleet on 1 September 2026 at Navi Mumbai. In its press release of 23 October 2026 the airline said it was operating 43 737 MAX aircraft. Newer deliveries carry Safran Z200 seats built to Akasa's specification.

Network

Akasa's bases are Mumbai and Bengaluru, and it has also started flying from Navi Mumbai. Its October 2026 release listed 31 domestic and seven international cities. The international routes go to Doha, Jeddah, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City, Phuket and Hanoi. The same release said daily departures had passed 200, that the airline had begun serving Jaipur and Udaipur, and that it was setting up a cabin crew base in Kolkata. Delhi had 196 weekly departures to 14 cities. Akasa said it had carried more than 31 million passengers since its launch.