Akasa Air has taken delivery of five new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from Avolon over the past couple of months. The agreement is Avolon's first sale and leaseback deal with Akasa Air - the five new 737 MAX 8 planes began arriving at the airline in December 2022, with all five deliveries completed by January 2023.
The airline now operates with 17 737 MAXs and continues to expand its fleet through leasing agreements.
Paul Geaney, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Avolon, said: “We are excited to support new entrants to the market, so it is a pleasure to have completed this transaction to lease 5 new narrowbody aircraft to Akasa. We congratulate Akasa on their successful launch and look forward to building on our strong relationship with them."
The majority of Akasa Air's fleet currently consisting of 17 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is acquired on lease, from various global lessors AerCap, ICBC and Griffin Global Asset Management. Since its launch in August 2022, Akasa Air has inducted a new MAX at a rate of around one plane every two weeks and aims to keep this up until its outstanding order of 55 Boeing 737 MAX orders have been delivered.
Bhavin Joshi, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Leasing & Procurement at Akasa Air, said: “Since our launch last August, we have rapidly added capacity, new routes and welcomed one million passengers to our unique offering. We are delighted to join hands with Avolon and will continue to invest in new technology aircraft that can offer superior reliability and carbon efficiency."
Going ahead, the airline is aiming for 1,000 weekly flights in next six months, almost double its current schedule.