Akasa Air has started accepting bookings for India's capital city New Delhi. Since its launch in August, the low-cost carrier has expanded to several cities in West and South India but the north has been left from its map. As Akasa receives more aircraft, other cities in the north are likely to follow Delhi and feature on the carrier's schedule.
Akasa Air has kickstarted its northern India expansion by opening booking for flights to New Delhi. Starting October 7th, the airline will fly from Delhi (DEL) to Ahmedabad (AMD) and Bengaluru (BLR). A quick scan of the airline's website reveals that the Delhi-Ahmedabad fares start at ₹4.578 ($57) and Delhi-Bengaluru at ₹7,057 ($89).
The airline started operations on August 7th with the inaugural flight from Mumbai (BOM) to Ahmedabad (AMD). Since then, it has expanded its reach to several cities, including Kochi (COK), Bengaluru (BLR), and Chennai (MAA).
The airline completed its first month of operations a couple of days ago, and witnessed both ups and downs in the last 30 days. The overall feedback for the airline has been positive. Bookings have been good, given the competitive prices offered by the airline, and there have been no major customer service challenges.
Follow Simple Flying for all the latest aviation news.
But there have also been a few roadblocks. Just a week after its launch, Akasa's primary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala passed away. Even though Jhunjhunwala was not supposed to be involved in the day-to-day running of the carrier, his presence provided great support for the airline.
The airline also suffered a significant security breach involving passenger data but assured passengers that no critical information, such as payment details or travel records, were accessed.
But the airline has so far maintained that it is on the right track and plans to increase its fleet size rapidly at the rate of one new aircraft every two weeks until all 72 MAXs on order have been received. As it strengthens its fleet size, Akasa will likely announce more destinations in the months to come.
Akasa Air started operations shortly before the Indian government scrapped the price cap rules. The airline has been offering tickets at lower prices than industry norms, forcing others to follow suit. Flights between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru and Bengaluru and Kochi - where Akasa Air flies - now cost 20-25% less.
The airline's website reveals that a Bengaluru-Mumbai flight on some days can be had for a little over ₹2,500 ($31). Fearing competition, the country's largest airline, IndiGo, has started increasing capacity on all of Akasa's routes and also dropped fares.
While low fares is good news for passengers, unhealthy price wars can affect business for the airlines. Once the taxes are accounted for, very little is left for airlines if the prices drop too much.
It's too soon to tell what the future holds for Akasa. But with India's busiest airport on its map, it is likely to get quite busy in the months to come.
Are you looking forward to Akasa flying from Delhi? Please let us know in the comment section below.