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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
After a good start, the CEO is eyeing international flights as a path to profitability. But IndiGo and Air India will give him a tough fight.
Editor's note: Seven months is too soon. But Akasa Air, which took off in August 2022, has had the best start by an airline in India yet. Even IndiGo, whose 2006 launch influenced Akasa’s own blueprint, didn’t have it so good. Akasa, led by founder-CEO Vinay Dube, has steadily grown its share in the domestic market to 3% as of February, and at this rate may soon start troubling SpiceJet and Go First, two airlines beset with problems that include sliding market share. Its fleet has increased to 19 aircraft. The rate of expansion has been furious, especially in the last three months, when it added nearly a dozen Boeing 737 Max planes. The airline connects all the metros and its network—consisting of 17 destinations at present—is expanding fast. IndiGo—which also started in August—had less than 10 aircraft at the end of its first financial year, says a partner with a multinational consulting firm, asking not to be named. “Akasa is more than twice that already. IndiGo had taken about two years to reach the 20-aircraft mark, something Akasa may reach anytime …
The Manoj Chacko-led regional airline has had a promising start. Will the lessons of the past keep it on course while it expands?
The Tata Group’s silence and absence from Ahmedabad on the first anniversary of India’s worst air disaster risks putting a dent in its much-vaunted value system.
A drop in employee costs, despite the need to hire pilots under the new DGCA norms, raises fresh concerns about IndiGo’s staffing, and its vulnerability to a December 2025-scale disruption.
