Summary
- Akasa Air has expanded its domestic network by announcing flights to Port Blair within the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a well-liked beach destination.
- The brand new route will connect Bengaluru with Port Blair via Chennai, offering seamless travel options for passengers.
- Akasa will face competition from airlines like IndiGo and Vistara, which also fly directly from Bengaluru to Port Blair.
India’s low-cost carrier has added one other domestic destination to its network, this time outside the Indian mainland to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The beach destination sees a variety of traffic throughout the winter months, so Akasa can expect good loads on these flights.
Hello, Port Blair!
Akasa Air has announced it’ll start flying to the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Port Blair, on December 15. The budget carrier will connect Bengaluru with the island via Chennai. This shall be a direct flight with a stopover in Chennai with no change of aircraft.
Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock
Port Blair is well connected to mainland India by several airlines and to several destinations. Unsurprisingly, IndiGo is the most important operator from Port Blair’s Veer Savarkar International Airport (IXZ), with flights to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
Air India connects the town with Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, and Vishakhapatnam; SpiceJet with Kolkata and Chennai; and Vistara with Bengaluru and Kolkata. In November, there are almost 900 return flights from Port Blair to mainland India. Clearly, Akasa will face some competition, especially from IndiGo and Vistara, which also fly directly from Bengaluru.
Network growth
Akasa Air is a bit of over a 12 months old. Launched in August 2022, it has up to now served almost six million passengers and flies to 16 cities across India – Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala, Pune, Lucknow, Goa, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Bagdogra, Bhubaneswar, and Kolkata.
Photo: Akasa Air
The airline currently has 20 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in its fleet out of the initial order for 72 planes from the US plane maker. There also plans to position a major aircraft order, possibly in three digits, in the approaching months, because the airline goals to expand its fleet to 76 aircraft by mid-2027.
The airline will even start flying to international destinations soon, and its long-term plans also include stock-market listing, but that will not be prone to occur before the top of this decade.
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