Akasa Air Tweaks To Supply Chain Issues

Akasa Air was affected by a supply chain issue outside of its control, with the airline being forced to decrease capacity in some of its planes. However, the plan remains unchanged, and more capacity is still on the way.

Fewer seats, different upholstery, no USB

Akasa Air boasts that its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will no longer be limited to 189 seats. The company is also planning on removing USB ports from some seats and changing the upholstery colors to a different color than purple.

Akasa will be using a modified aircraft, which has the second and third rows in a 2×2 configuration. The seats themselves will retain their standard price, but Akasa will be charging an additional ₹2,500 ($30.76) for the option of selecting seats in these rows. For the other seats, they’ll continue to charge just ₹1,500 ($18) for selection. They also state that they “realize this extra fee may be seen as a difficult or costly change by some”.

Akasa Air will continue to offer one-way fares as low as a few dollars and services a single aisle, all economy configuration. We plan on transitioning the 2×2 seat configuration over the next six-to-nine months and will pull out of the 189-seater in the process.

Deliveries not affected

Akasa Air has placed an order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that will be fitted with CFM engines. The airline plans to receive 18 of them from March of 2018 until the final deliveries. Akasa Air says these modifications are just for the interiors of the plane, and it’s not facing any engine shortage like its competitors like IndiGo or Go First Airlines.

Dube mentioned, we are confident and understand that our first 20 aircraft will be unaffected. There is also no indication of any potential issues from Boeing as of yet, so there’s no need to worry.

When asked about the changes, Dubes CEO Lord Cobham clarified that they wont have a big effect on the company’s overall business strategy and there aren’t any plans to introduce high-class seats. In fact, he said upgrades will take place in the coming months once the supply chain issues are resolved.

After we get your plans in order, Akasa will begin accepting airplanes with higher density. The airplanes will feature 197 seats and all the airlines will be planning international routes, just like we do.