The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted Akasa Air its Air Operator Certificate (AOC), enabling it to proceed with its plans to begin flights in late July 2022. Akasa Air is the newest airline in India.
The start-up airline received its operator’s permit on July 7, 2022, demonstrating that it complies with the necessary legal and compliance standards for starting its first flights.
“The process concluded with the airline having successfully conducted a number of proving flights under the supervision of the country’s aviation regulator,” Akasa Air wrote in a statement.
The new airline has already received its first aircraft, which will fly under the designation “QP.” It is presently the only plane operated by the airline, according to data from Planespotters.com. In June 2022, the three-year-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the registration VT-YAA joined the company.
Akasa Air has placed orders for 72 aircraft from the Boeing 737 MAX series, all of which are powered by CFM LEAP-1B engines.
The order was placed in November 2022, valued at around to $9 billion at list prices at the time, and is anticipated to make the airline’s fleet the newest and greenest in India.
Vinay Dube, the airline’s CEO, forewarned back in June that if the firm didn’t provide its AOC, it might not be able to negotiate the necessary agreements with airports and delay the start of its regular flights until the end of 2023.
Though it seems like the airline was able to get beyond the difficulty and is now prepared to move forward with its original plan to start flying during the summer of 2022.
“We now look forward to opening our flights for sale, leading to the start of commercial operations by late July 2022. This will begin our journey towards building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” the CEO said.
Akasa Air intends to launch its commercial operations with just two passenger jets before progressively expanding its fleet.
The brand-new Indian airline stated that it anticipates having 18 aircraft at the end of the fiscal year 2022–2023 and that it will subsequently add 12–14 aircraft on average every 12 months, completing its order of 72 jets by 2027.
As part of its initial network, the December 2021-founded Akasa Air would provide air connection services in a number of Indian cities, including Bangalore (BLR), Delhi (DEL), Chennai (MAA), Hyderabad (HYD), and Mumbai (BOM). The precise itineraries, meanwhile, won’t be revealed until closer to the airline’s debut.
 has granted Akasa Air its Air Operator Certificate (AOC)){kind=link}