Budget carrier Akasa Air is set to close an order for around 150 Boeing 737 MAX narrow body planes, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The contract negotiations are underway and a deal is expected to be announced at the Wings India event scheduled to be held from January 18-21. A spokesperson for the airline said it does not comment on speculation.
Budget carrier Akasa happens to be India’s newest airline and has a market share of four per cent since it started flying in 2022. IndiGo has a market share of 60 per cent while the Tata Group’s airlines have a combined market share of 26 per cent.
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Akasa Air’s chief commercial officer Praveen Iyer had told newspaper Business Line last December that the airline was planning to announce a three-digit aircraft order in early 2024.
According to the Reuters report, the order for 150 planes is likley to include future purchasing options. Akasa flies on domestic routes with a fleet of around two dozen aircraft.
Last year, the air carrier was hit by the sudden departure of about a tenth of its pilots and had warned it was flying less due to the exits. As per the report, Akasa’s new order is aimed at fuelling its domestic and international expansion.
The narrow body Boeing aircraft ordered are equipped to fly to nearby foreign destinations including Southeast Asia and Middle East from India.
Domestic air passenger traffic rose 9 per cent in November
According to an official data released last month, domestic air passenger traffic had risen by nine per cent to more than 1.27 crore in November.
IndiGo remained the country’s largest domestic carrier but its market share declined to 61.8 per cent in November from 62.6 per cent in October.
However, none of the scheduled carriers had an On-Time Performance (OTP) score of more than 80 per cent in November.
Official data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday showed that airlines flew 1.27 crore passengers in November compared to 1.17 crore in the year-ago period.
(With Reuters, PTI inputs)
