Co-Founder Aditya Ghosh remarked that while sustainable aviation fuel is now significantly more expensive than conventional gasoline, airlines and airports would be pressured to adopt sustainable methods.
As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) monthly statistics for February, Akasa Air has surpassed the 3 percent threshold. The airline currently has 19 aircraft in its fleet, compared to its original goal of adding 18 by the end of March.
For a variety of reasons, including the leadership of Aditya Ghosh, who was a member of IndiGo's founding team before rising to the position of president and permanent director, Ghosh and Akasa Air are frequently compared to IndiGo.
There are further parallels as well. Both airlines launched their operations in August; IndiGo did so on August 4, 2006, while Akasa Air did so on August 7, 2022.
To recap, Akasa Air had a market share of 3% in February and will experience a modest increase when it shuts down in March. Currently, the airline's fleet consists of 19 aircraft. With 8 A320neo aircraft and a market share of 2.6 percent, IndiGo, in contrast, finished its first fiscal year.
The market, however, has drastically shifted. What required eight aircraft to increase by 2.6 percent now requires 18. In March 2007, there were 305 commercial aircraft in this market; as of present, there are little over 700.
The contrast between 2006–07 and the current year also demonstrates IndiGo's steady expansion. In those days, the industry averaged 1,153 domestic departures per day; today, IndiGo alone exceeds that figure on a regular basis. The airline serves more than 75 domestic destinations in addition to more than 100 locations worldwide.
As IndiGo only ran half as many stations as Akasa Air did when it first began, each aircraft introduction by Akasa Air presents its unique difficulties. Market share is one thing, but having a weak national presence is another.
Standardization is another area where Akasa Air has been forced to play catch-up. LCCs, at least in the beginning, place a lot of emphasis on standardization, which helps maintain a regulated and constrained spare inventory. Akasa Air flies aircraft with three seat/color configurations, and in one instance had to introduce a business class offering.
This is due to the fact that Boeing had a large number of whitetails—ready-to-fly aircraft that had not been leased by the airlines that had ordered them. Normally, the new airline would repaint the interiors to match its livery, but because to supply chain issues, replacement seats are not being made available as quickly as they are needed. However, the much-touted USB charging ports are not present on all aircraft, and the airline does not use them in its marketing efforts.
The input cost is what counts most in India, though, as airlines have been unable to raise prices to reasonable levels for a long time. Given that rival Airbus now dominates the Indian market, it is thought that Akasa Air received a bargain unlike any other in this situation. Overall, the cost-benefit is permanent whereas the seat mismatch is transient.
Kingfisher Airlines, which had merged with Air Deccan in March 2007, went out of business; Indian Airlines, which had merged with Air India since then; Jet Airways, which had acquired Air Sahara, went out of business in 2019. The only carriers that have survived are IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go FIRST (Go Air back then), and Indian Airlines (now Air India). Paramount also failed.
Airlines had to wait five years and have 20 aircraft in their fleet before they could fly internationally until the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) was established in 2016. Since then, the requirements for airlines to begin operating globally have altered, requiring a minimum of 20 aircraft and no limitations on the number of years of operation.
IndiGo alone now controls almost half of the market, whereas in 2006–2007 it was split between Jet Airways (31%), Air Deccan (18.58%), and Indian Airlines (17.37%).
The worldwide operations of Akasa Air will now be the focus of attention since it will be the first airline to effectively utilize the 0/20 rule.
Edited by – Kavya Venkateshwaran
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