Akasa becomes India’s first airline to induct B737-8-200; ready for international flights

As India’s first B737-8-200 (VT-YAV) gets inducted into Akasa Air’s fleet, the airline is all set to embark upon a new chapter. This will be Akasa Air’s 20th plane, completing the mandate of the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, which requires an airline to have 20 aircraft in its fleet to be able to start international operations.

This will also be significant for Indian aviation since this will be the first B737-8-200 aircraft in India. The airline currently has 19 aircraft in its fleet and has placed an order for 76 aircraft, of which 23 are the MAX-8 while the other 53 would be the B737-8-200.

What is the “MAX-8-200?

The 737-8-200 is the same as the MAX 8 (or 737-8) in length, height, width and wingspan, but has an additional pair of exit doors which help accommodate more seats. The “200” denotes the number of seats it could potentially have.

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Three of the eight trolleys in the galley have been removed to make way for additional seats. The washrooms have also been re-designed and moved to the galley for this. From a low cost carrier perspective, the additional safety exits could mean additional revenue since such seats with extra leg room are sold at additional fees.

The seats are configured with a tighter pitch (space between a seat and the one in front of it) as airlines feel that for short haul travel, passengers would not have a problem with such a seat pitch, given the cheaper fares on offer.

Who else has this aircraft?

Akasa Air will be the first airline in the country to operate this aircraft. European LCC Ryanair was the first customer to operate the `-8-200’. The airline, known for its cost cutting, has configured the aircraft with 197 seats and called it a “game changer” when it was inducted in June 2021. Ryanair will close 2023 with over 90 of these aircraft in its fleet of a staggering 500+ planes.

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The ‘-8-200’ has also been ordered by Arajet – an ultra-low cost carrier from the Dominican Republic and Allegiant Air of the United States. VietJet has also placed an order for the aircraft, but none of these carriers have taken deliveries, making Akasa Air the second carrier world-wide and the first in Asia to take delivery of the B737-8-200. Then International Airlines Group (IAG) which owns British Airways, Iberia and Air Lingus amongst others have placed orders and it is not yet known which of them will take the aircraft.

How is Akasa Air getting these aircraft so fast?

With Akasa also opting for 197 seats, seating is 4.2 percent more than its 189-seater aircraft and 13 percent more than some of its aircraft that have 174 seats. (The Boeing aircraft that Jet Airways could not pick up because it went bust, and were lying with the manufacturer). The airline sells the business class seats as A++ on routes where these aircraft are deployed. The increase in capacity with 197 seats is significant for an operating cost which does not go up in proportion.

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Akasa Air signed the deal with Boeing at the Dubai Airshow in November 2021 and took delivery of its first plane in June 2022, starting operations in August the same year. The sequence of events have been very fast and it is rare for an airline to take delivery from the manufacturer the same year. This was made possible by an earlier sequence of events where the B737 MAX aircraft was grounded pending rework after two deadly crashes. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic and streak of cancellations meant that there were many white tails (industry parlance for aircraft not taken up by the original ordering entity) available. With Boeing sitting on a large pile of such inventory and the regulators clearing them to fly again, Akasa Air made the most of it.

However, there was a problem. Akasa Air’s initial aircraft featured 189 economy class seats with USB chargers, something the airline talked about proudly at the time of launch. The next set of aircraft had a different type of configuration of seats and no chargers. The airline had to give up its mono class configuration for a two-class configuration, but continued to sell it as mono class with the seats upfront being sold as a special seat because of the aircraft. The airline sells the front cabin as A++ seats with a single class of service. Between the two difficult choices of opting for standardisation or going ahead with whatever was available to add capacity, the airline chose the latter and became one of the fastest growing airlines in the first year of operations.

With the induction of the ‘-8-200’, the airline will try to further reduce its per seat cost (CASK) to become more competitive in the cut throat Indian aviation market.