After Air India placed orders for 840 planes from Airbus and Boeing, newly launched low-cost airline Akasa Air will place a "substantially" large order in 2023 as it looks to capitalise on booming demand at home and begin international flights, the company's chief executive Vinay Dube told Reuters.
Without specifying the number, Vinay Dube said, “Before the end of this year we are going to place another aircraft order that is going to be substantially larger than the 72 aircraft order we have placed.”
According to the report, Akasa Air currently has 17 Boeing 737 MAX planes. The company had earlier placed an order for 72 jets, which will be delivered by March 2027.
Dube did not say whether the order would go to Boeing or Airbus, but Akasa Air typically prefers to use single narrow-body planes to help control costs, the report said.
The plans come at a time when travel demand in India has experienced a dramatic recovery following COVID-19, making it the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with capacity surpassing 2019 levels and passenger count inching near pre-pandemic levels.
On Tuesday, Air India announced that it had placed an order for 470 aircraft as it looks to revamp its ageing fleet. The company said it has placed an order of 250 planes with Airbus and 220 planes with Boeing.
On Thursday, Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial and transformation officer of Air India, in a LinkedIn post, said "The order comprises 470 firm aircraft, 370 options and purchase rights to be procured from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade. The Airbus firm order comprises 210 A320/321Neo/XLR and 40 A350-900/1000."
"The Boeing firm order comprises 190 B737Max, 20 B787s and 10 B777s. We have also signed up for a long- term maintenance of the engines with CFM International, Rolls-Royce and GE Aerospace," Aggarwal said.
Akasa Air’s chief executive Vinay Dube told the news agency that Akasa will add three planes to its fleet within the next three months to reach 20, making it eligible to fly to international destinations as per Indian government rules.
"By the end of the year, we hope to be flying internationally," he added.
The company is targeting destinations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Dube said in the domestic market, Akasa would focus on its strategy of connecting smaller cities with the country's major metros at a time when demand remains strong despite high ticket prices.