Akasa Air to fly with 15 fewer seats due to supply chain woes

The airline expects the issue to be resolved in 6-9 months

Akasa Air will induct 11 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with 15 fewer seats (174 instead of 189) between November this year and March next year due to sourcing challenges. Seats in some of these aircraft will not be equipped with a universal serial bus (USB) port and will sport upholstery different from its present-day purple colour.

The airline attributed this to supply-chain disruption and estimates that the issue will be resolved in six to nine months.

India’s newest airline took to the skies in August. Currently, it has seven Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with 189 seats each and operates over 40 flights daily. Two more aircraft will be inducted this month and will be operational in December.

Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube said the airline is on track to receive 18 aircraft until March 2023, but is facing supply shortage of seats, USB ports, and seat covers. As a result, the 11 aircraft that it will receive in the weeks ahead will have fewer seats. These aircraft will have three rows in the front in a 2x2 configuration and those 12 seats will have more width and better legroom.

Akasa Air will charge an optional seat selection fee of Rs 2,500 for any of the 12 seats (other seats will be available for Rs 1,500 as usual). There will be no difference in fares or service for these seats.

Dube said the airline is not deviating from its business strategy and has no plans to introduce a business class product.

“Akasa Air will continue to operate a single-aisle, all-economy service at affordable fares with no change in its pricing strategy. According to our current road map with partners, the 2x2 seat configuration will get standardised over the next six to nine months. With this, our original 189-seater will become available as we overcome the supply-chain impact,” the airline said.

Akasa Air has 72 aircraft on order powered by CFM engines. Unlike rivals Go First and IndiGo, the budget carrier is not facing any engine shortage.  

“We remain unaffected for the first 20 aircraft deliveries,” clarified Dube.

From April next year, the airline will start inducting a high-density version of the MAX aircraft that will have 197 seats.

In its first two months of its operations, Akasa Air carried over 116,000 passengers with a combined market share of 0.4 per cent in the domestic civil aviation market.