Page 6 - Akasa Air

Akasa Air, IndiGo, Air India order 1,120 planes in less than one year

With Akasa Air announcing an order for 150 aircraft on Thursday, three Indian carriers together have ordered a total of 1,120 planes in less than one year as they expand their presence in the country's fast growing civil aviation market. The less than two-year-old Akasa Air has placed a firm order for 150 Boeing 737 Max planes, comprising 737 Max 10 and 737 Max 8-200 jets. In 2023, which also saw domestic air traffic climbing new highs, Air India and IndiGo together placed orders for 970 planes with Boeing and Airbus. Tata Group-owned Air India ordered 470 planes -- 250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing -- in February last year. Later in June, the country's largest airline IndiGo announced an order with Airbus to buy 500 narrow-body planes. Now, Akasa Air, Air India and IndiGo together have placed orders for 1,120 planes since February last year. Besides these orders, Indian carriers are set to take deliveries of new planes that were ordered earlier. IndiGo alone has an order book o

Boeing wins order for 150 Max jets from Akasa amid recent mid-air blowout

Akasa Air, which began flying commercially less than two years ago, made a firm purchase for the 737 Max 10 and Max 8-200 planes to be delivered through 2032, the carrier announced

New FDTL norms will not affect Akasa Air's flight schedule: CEO Vinay Dube

The new mandate has increased weekly rest periods for flight crew to 48 hours in a week from the previous 36 hours

IndiGo cornered bigger share of India's skies in 2023, shows DGCA data

Overall, Indian airlines carried 153.2 million domestic passengers in 2023 compared to 123.2 million in 2022, recording an annual growth of 23.36 per cent

No plan to modify mid-cabin doors in current, future planes: Akasa Air

Akasa Air has no intention to modify the standard mid-cabin door in its aircraft, according to a senior airline executive amid the recent Alaska Airlines incident where in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug had resulted in rapid decompression of a Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft. The airline has 22 Boeing 737 Max planes in its fleet. Following the incident on January 5, aviation regulator DGCA ordered Akasa Air, Air India Express and SpiceJet to carry out an inspection of the wing emergency exits of their Boeing 737-8 Max planes. The checks were completed satisfactorily and there were no adverse findings. In an e-mail to staff on Monday evening, Akasa Air's Chief of Flight Safety Gaurav Pathak said the airline does not have the intention "of modifying the highly standard mid-cabin door on any current or future aircraft that we are contemplating". Mid-cabin door refers to any emergency exit door on the aircraft that is not over the wings of the aircraft. According to Pathak, the .

DGCA says checks of Boeing 737-8 Max planes completed satisfactorily

Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday said the checks of Boeing 737-8 Max planes have been completed satisfactorily. On Saturday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed domestic airlines to immediately carry out inspection of emergency exits of all Boeing 737-8 Max planes in their fleets as an "abundant precautionary measure" in the wake of the Alaska Airlines incident. "These checks have been satisfactorily performed on the fleet of operational fleet of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft by Air India Express (4), Spicejet (8) and Akasa (20)," DGCA said in a statement. Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily, it added. On January 5, Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was involved in an incident of an in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug which resulted in rapid decompression of the airplane.

No adverse findings in Boeing 737 Max planes, says Akasa post-inspection

Akasa Air on Monday said it has completed a thorough inspection of its entire fleet of in-service Boeing 737 Max planes and that there are no adverse findings. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on January 5, directed domestic airlines to immediately carry out inspection of emergency exits of all Boeing 737-8 Max planes in their fleets as an "abundant precautionary measure" in the wake of the Alaska Airlines incident. On January 4, an Alaska Airlines plane's outer section, including a window, fell off mid-air and the aircraft involved was Boeing 737-9 Max. In a statement on Monday, Akasa Air said subsequent to the guideline issued by DGCA, it has completed a thorough inspection of its entire fleet of in-service Boeing 737 Max aircraft. "We can confirm that there are no adverse findings. We can also confirm that there was no disruption to our operations during this time," it said. Akasa Air has 22 Max planes in its fleet. Currently, there are more than 40 Boeing 737-

Akasa Air inducts two new Boeing aircraft, total fleet rises to 22

Indian regulations mandate that carriers must have at least 20 aircraft in their fleet to be eligible for international flights

Akasa Air set to close order for 150 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody planes

Contract negotiations are ongoing and a deal is expected to be announced at Wings India, the country's largest civil aviation event scheduled for Jan. 18-21, said two sources familiar with ongoing ta

Boeing asks airlines to inspect 737 MAX planes for possible loose hardware

Boeing has recommended airlines to conduct an inspection of their B737 Max fleet, after an international operator discovered a bolt with a missing nut while performing routine maintenance. In a statement, Boeing said the issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied. In India three airlines -- Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Air India Express -- have B737 Max planes in their fleet. Earlier on Thursday, the US aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement, saying it was closely monitoring "targetted inspection," of Boeing 737 Max planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system. "The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied. Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 MAX airplanes and inform us of any findings," Boeing said in the statement. The aircraft maker said it has informed the FAA and will continue to keep the regulator aware of the progress. Queries sent to Akasa

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Flights may experience delays: Akasa's travel advisory ahead of WC final

India and Australia will lock horns in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

Akasa Air waives off handling charges on carriage of musical instruments

Effective since October 10, 2023, passengers will no longer incur handling fees for carrying musical equipment such as guitars, keyboards, violins, or other musical instruments

Stabilising the talent battle

CEOs grappling with talent challenges could draw inspiration from the structured transfer window system used in European football leagues

Chief executives of Air India, Akasa joust over poaching of pilots

The rare verbal and written confrontations between the airlines' chief executives were detailed in the letter, sent by Campbell Wilson of Air India, which is owned by the Tata Group conglomerate

Akasa Air plans to list on bourses by end of the decade: CEO Vinay Dube

India's newest airline Akasa Air, which is set to soon fly on international routes and will be placing a three-digit aircraft order, plans to list on the bourses by the end of the decade, its Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube told PTI. The 14-month-old Akasa Air, which already operates more than 750 weekly flights across 16 domestic destinations, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Delhi, is looking at "gathering a little more history" before launching an initial public offering (IPO), he said. The airline plans to start international services by the end of this fiscal and has placed a firm order for 76 Boeing 737 MAX aeroplanes, all of which will join its fleet by mid-2027. Currently, Akasa Air has a fleet of 20 aircraft and is looking to place an order for three-digit aircraft before the end of 2023, he noted. Dube, the founder and CEO, said the airline is already generating free cash from operations and is well-funded for the new aircraft order it is going to place. Abo

Looking at a mix of int'l destinations, not just West Asia: Akasa Air CEO

(Pilot row) one of the things we didn't plan for because it is unimaginable, says Vinay Dube

Airline dead set against no-poaching pact for pilots: Akasa Air CEO

Akasa Air might be slowly coming out of the turbulence caused by sudden pilots' exits but the airline's chief Vinay Dube is "dead set against" the idea of having any kind of no-poaching agreement between airlines, asserting that it will not be right. The airline, which has been flying for more than a year, has more than 450 pilots and the number will go up as it expands the fleet from 20 aircraft now. "We had about 330 pilots in April. Approximately, 40 went away without (serving) notice period or with one day, two days or less than 24 hours. Today, we have little over 450 pilots... between April and today, we have probably added about a third of additional pilots despite a small number leaving," Akasa Air Founder and CEO Vinay Dube told PTI. Following the sudden exit of pilots, many of whom apparently joined another carrier, Akasa Air had to cancel some flights in July and August. The carrier's market share also took a hit due to the cancellations. Also, the airline has initiated

Akasa cancels flights from Bengaluru, airline says network 'rationalised'

Akasa Air, which is facing headwinds due to pilot issues, has cancelled some flights from Bengaluru, sources said on Thursday, while the airline stated it has rationalised the network to ensure high operational reliability. Bengaluru is the hub for the carrier, which operates around 700 flights daily. Sources said the airline, which has been flying for more than a year, has cancelled some flights from Bengaluru. However, specific details could not be immediately ascertained. "As we have mentioned before in the July-August 2023 timeframe, when a small set of pilots abandoned their duties and left the organisation without serving their mandatory contractual notice period, we were forced to cancel a number of flights. "Since then, we have rationalised our network to ensure that we offer our customers the highest levels of operational reliability, as we did for the first 11 months of our operation," an Akasa Air spokesperson said in a statement. The airline flies to 16 cities. Accord

On-time performance of all Indian carriers falls in September, shows data

An airline executive mentioned that key cities like Delhi and Mumbai experienced heavy rainfall on certain days in September, compelling the airlines to either cancel or postpone flights