Indian startup airline Akasa Air has taken delivery of its second Boeing 737 MAX 8 last week. This comes less than a fortnight before the carrier is set to launch commercial operations. Akasa Air had faced lengthy delays in receiving its planes from Boeing, which in turn forced it to delay its planned launch. However, the addition of a second airframe, and more incoming soon, will help the airline boost operations and add new routes to its schedule.

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Second 737 MAX

After receiving its first aircraft (VT-YAA) in June, Akasa Air used to obtain an Air Operator’s Certificate from the Indian authorities. The second airframe was delivered approximately one month later and bears the registration VT-YAB and MSN 62875.

Akasa Air's first MAX
Photo: Preston Fiedler

Just like VT-YAA, this airframe was also originally ordered by T’Way Air, a South Korean low-cost airline, data from ch-aviation.com shows. MSN 62875 is nearly three years old and took its first flight on August 27th, 2019.

Delivery flight

Much like the delivery flight of the first Akasa airframe, VT-YAB made two stopovers to before landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). The aircraft left Boeing Field Airport (BFI) in Seattle on July 23rd at 19:10 UTC for the first leg of the journey to Reykjavik in Iceland.

VT-YAB arrived in the island nation’s capital at around 2:45 AM UTC the next day, and stayed on the ground for little less than 20 hours before taking off again, this time for Larnaca. After clearing the remaining bit of the Atlantic, the Akasa plane landed at Larnaca International Airport (LCA) early morning at 05:15 AM UTC on July 25th.

20-something hours later, VT-YAB was back in the skies, heading for its new home. The final stint took seven hours & thirty minutes, and the second Akasa Air jet arrived into DEL on the evening of July 26th, at around 5:40 PM local time. Data from Flightradar24.com shows the airframe was parked at a remote bay at Terminal 2 of IGI Airport.

About Akasa’s aircraft

Akasa Air has a firm order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, split between the standard MAX 8 and the MAX 8200 variants. From the total order, the airline wants 19 aircraft as MAX 8s and the remaining 53 units as MAX 8200s. Both airframes delivered to Akasa Air so far are MAX 8s with 189 seats in a single-class seating configuration.

Aircraft - Akasa Air
Akasa Air's entry has brought the fares down significantly on some routes. Photo: Akasa Air

Akasa Air has said it will receive all 19 of its MAX 8 airframes first, while the high-density 200 variants will follow soon after. The airline has opted to have its MAX 8 200s fitted with 197 seats to reduce operating and fuel costs per seat, a setup similar to that of Ryanair.

Needless to say, Akasa Air has become the carrier with the youngest and most efficient fleet among all Indian airlines. This is in line with the carrier’s desire to become the greenest airline in the country.

Are you excited to fly with Akasa Air once they launch commercial operations this Sunday? Please, let us know your thoughts in the comments.