Akasa Air on Tuesday ordered 72 Boeing 737 MAX jets worth nearly $9 billion at list prices — a deal that will help the US planmaker regain lost ground in one of the world’s most promising markets. Can do.
The order from billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed airline comes months after India’s air safety regulator allowed the country’s airlines to fly Max jets, ending nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding after two fatal crashes in five months. Diya, in which 346 people died.
Jhunjhunwala, fondly known as “India’s Warren Buffett”, has teamed up with former CEOs of the country’s largest carrier IndiGo and Jet Airways to meet the demand for domestic air travel, which is at pre-pandemic levels. is close to as the country recovers from one. The devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.
The low-cost airline got a preliminary nod from the civil aviation ministry to start operations in October and is expected to start flying next year.
“We are already seeing a strong improvement in air travel, and we see growth in the decades ahead of us,” Vinay Dubey, chief executive officer of Akasa Air, said at the Dubai Airshow.
Akasa’s order includes two variants, the 737-8 and the higher-capacity 737-8-200, the companies said.
Reuters reported in September that Boeing was close to winning an order from Akasa for about 70 to 100 737 MAX jets, pending separate talks on a long-term engine service deal.
Boeing dominates India’s broader market of 51 aircraft, but the fare war and high costs have caused casualties among full-service carriers including Kingfisher Airlines in 2012 and Jet Airways in 2019, leaving low-cost carriers and Airbus even more have become effective.
Data from consultancy CAPA India shows that Boeing’s share in India’s 570 narrow-body aircraft fell from 35% to 18% after the collapse of Jet in 2018.
At present, SpiceJet is the only customer for MAX aircraft in the country.
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