Akasa Air to operate its 1st commercial flight on Aug 7; opens ticket sales

New airline Akasa Air on Friday said it will launch commercial flight operations on August 7 by operating its first service on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route using Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

In a statement, the carrier said it has opened ticket sales on 28 weekly flights it will be operating on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route from August 7, as well as on 28 weekly flights it will operating on Bengaluru-Kochi route from August 13.

The airline has kept the minimum one-way fare on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector at Rs 3948. Flights of other airlines were priced upwards of Rs 4262 on the same route.

The airline will connect four cities in its first phase of operations and will connect Bengaluru-Kochi from August 13 with another 28 weekly flights.

The carrier will launch commercial operations with two 737 Max aircraft. Boeing has delivered one Max plane and the second one's delivery is scheduled to take place later this month.

Praveen Iyer, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air, said," We kick-start operations with flights between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, with the brand-new Boeing 737 Max aircraft."

"We will adopt a phased approach to support our network expansion plans, progressively connecting more cities, as we add two aircraft to our fleet each month, in our first year," he added.

Akasa Air has 72 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order and it intends to induct 37 planes till December 2024. The airline said passengers will experience softer seat cushions, spacious leg room and USB ports that will be available in every seat. Like other no frills airlines Akasa too will have buy on board meal service.

“We want to be a compassionate airline with a focus on being dependable, warm, efficient and reliable,” co-founder and chief marketing and experience officer Belson Coutinho said,

Akasa Air has 72 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order and it intends to induct 37 planes till December 2024. The airline said passengers will experience softer seat cushions, spacious leg room and USB ports that will be available in every seat. Like other no frills airlines Akasa too will have buy on board meal service.

“We want to be a compassionate airline with a focus on being dependable, warm, efficient and reliable,” said Belson Coutinho, co-founder and chief marketing and experience officer.

Akasa Air, which is backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, received regulatory nod to start operations earlier this month. Vinay Dube, former chief executive officer, of Jet Airways, is a founder of Akasa .

(With inputs from BS Reporter in Mumbai.)