“So I’d say that’s a factor of the previous,” Vinay Dube, the founder and chief government officer of Akasa Watermentioned in an interview with Mintreferring to earlier delays. “The deliveries are far more predictable, far more frequent.”
Plane deliveries decide pilot hiring, which in flip units how a lot capability an airline can deploy and the way effectively it might unfold mounted prices, a series Akasa says is now transferring once more.
Akasa, which operates an all-Boeing narrow-body fleet, had slowed fleet enlargement and paused pilot hiring as plane provide tightened, at the same time as demand rebounded throughout India’s aviation sector. The improved supply schedule now permits the airline to renew progress with out resorting to wet-leasing plane or altering its single-type fleet technique.
Akasa inducted two plane in January and one in February. Two extra are anticipated later this month, with one other one to 2 due in March, mentioned Dube. The airline at the moment operates 33 Boeing 737 MAX plane, together with three added up to now in 2026.
Launched in August 2022, Akasa is awaiting completion of its 226-aircraft order with Boeing, underpinning its long-term enlargement plans.
The stabilization in deliveries coincides with Boeing’s efforts to ramp up narrow-body manufacturing. Boeing India and South Asia president Salil Gupte had earlier advised Mint that the US plane maker was focusing on at the least two deliveries a month this yr as manufacturing elevated at its US services.
India’s business plane fleet now stands at round 800 plane, with IndiGo working about 440 planes, the Air India group round 297 and SpiceJet about 35, underscoring the dimensions hole Akasa is searching for to bridge as deliveries choose up.
Pilots again on the agenda
With plane inductions selecting up, Akasa has restarted pilot hiring after an 18-month pause and is at the moment recruiting skilled first officers. Dube mentioned the airline would quickly widen hiring to incorporate cadet partnerships and inexperienced pilots as deliveries speed up.
“You already know all of these two to two-and-a-half years in the past, once we first spoke with Boeing and understood from them that our deliveries wouldn’t be on the tempo that we had initially supposed, there was a really aware choice,” Dube mentioned. “We could have additional pilots, however these pilots have dedicated to us once we have been a younger airline. We can not both lay them off or furlough them.”
Akasa at the moment employs 757 pilots.
Dube careworn that the hiring push is unrelated to the brand new phase-II flight responsibility time limitation (FDTL) norms.
“Nothing that I’ve described right here is linked to the brand new FDTL norms. These are extra linked to our plane supply schedule,” he mentioned.
If deliveries stay on observe, Akasa’s fleet may develop to 45-50 plane over the subsequent 12–18 months, bettering gas effectivity, reducing upkeep prices and easing working capital pressures, mentioned Gagan Dixit, vice-president—oil & gasoline and aviation at Elara Capital. Profitability, nevertheless, remains to be possible 2–2.5 years away, he added.
Self-discipline over opportunism
Regardless of heightened competitors and aggressive capability additions throughout India’s aviation marketAkasa says it’s not chasing market share or making mid-course strategic shifts.
“Being opportunistic will not be essentially an excellent factor as a result of it detracts from self-discipline,” Dube mentioned. “There’s nothing Akasa has traditionally performed that’s been opportunistic.”
As a substitute, the airline is specializing in operational self-discipline, value management and capital power, areas the place Dube believes airways have traditionally faltered. “One of many massive causes airways get into hassle is being under-capitalised,” he mentioned. “We could make different errors, however these two—being under-capitalised and having an uncompetitive value construction—we’re not going to make.”
Elara’s Dixit mentioned the emphasis on self-discipline over market share is smart at this stage. Market share good points, he added, can come later because the airline turns worthwhile, making capital administration and profitability the precise priorities for now.
That self-discipline is mirrored in Akasa’s working decisions. The airline is sticking to a single plane kind, economy-only cabins and a focus-city mannequin fairly than hub-and-spoke operations. It has no plans to introduce business-class seats or regional plane, and can as an alternative deploy the 737 MAX to broaden into tier-two and tier-three markets the place demand helps narrow-body operations.
“Everytime you use phrases like opportunistic or sudden, you may anticipate a no from Akasa,” Dube mentioned. “We’re not regional plane and we’re targeted and proud of our single plane kind.”
On the hub and spoke mannequin, Dube mentioned, “We’ll have focus cities…We’re Navi Mumbai and Noida Worldwide Airport as focus airports. We may have a big focus of plane.”
Dube mentioned the airline can also be constructing its worldwide community steadily and expects round 40% of its operations to be on world routes throughout the subsequent three to 4 years. At current, Akasa operates worldwide flights to 5 locations.
Akasa ended FY25 with income of ₹4,582.72 crore and a lack of ₹1,983.4 crore. Backed by the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s household and recent capital raised in August 2025, the airline holds about 5% of the home market.
In October 2025, Akasa noticed the exit of co-founder Neelu Khatri, who headed worldwide operations. Khatri was not a board member and held lower than 1% stake by SNV Aviation, the airline’s holding firm.
The exit adopted Akasa’s ₹1,200 crore fundraise in August 2025, led by Premji Make investments and Claypond Capital, alongside 360 ONE Asset Administration and extra commitments from the Jhunjhunwala household trusts.
Dube mentioned the airline plans to induct new investor illustration on the board and has utilized for safety clearance for one such appointment.