What’s Behind Akasa Air’s Rapid Climb to a 29-Plane Fleet?

On Monday, June 9, 2025, Akasa Air welcomed its 29th Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 (VT-YBG) into service at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, marking just 33 months since its inaugural flight in August 2022.

Record-Smashing Growth

• Fastest to 20: Within its first year, Akasa became the quickest airline in global aviation history to amass a fleet of 20 aircraft – a feat achieved in just 12 months of operations.
• Ambitious Order Book: With 197 more 737 MAX jets on order through 2032, Akasa is locked in for one of the industry’s largest expansion drives.
• 30 by July?: Just last month, the carrier signaled its intent to hit a 30-aircraft fleet by July 2025, underscoring an aggressive delivery pipeline.

The Delivery Odyssey

This Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 departed Boeing Field in Seattle, made a refueling stop at Keflavik, Iceland, and then continued via Kuwait before touching down in Bengaluru—an intercontinental relay typical for MAX deliveries.

Turbulence En Route

• Regulatory Scrutiny: After an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX experienced a mid-air cabin-panel blowout in January 2024, Boeing’s production faced heightened checks, slowing deliveries.
• Delivery Slow-Down: Of the 446 MAX jets ordered by Indian carriers, only about 65 have been delivered so far. Boeing now intends to ramp up to two aircraft per month.
• Idle Pilots: These delays left some Akasa pilots grounded, unable to log hours or fly their scheduled trips.

Spreading Wings Internationally

Akasa’s network isn’t just domestic—about 18 percent of its flights are now international, flying to destinations like Doha, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait across 35 weekly overseas services

TL; DR

• 29 planes in 33 months: Akasa inducted VT-YBG in Bengaluru on June 9, 2025
• Record growth: Fastest ever to 20 aircraft within 12 months
• Huge backlog: 197 more Boeing 737 MAX jets on order through 2032
• Regulatory hiccups: MAX programme under scrutiny after Alaska incident; only ~65 of 446 ordered delivered
• International footprint: 18% of operations overseas, with over 35 weekly international flights

Jetstar Asia first took flight in December 2004, carving out a niche as Singapore’s premier low-cost carrier and a key feeder for Qantas’s long-haul services to Australia. Over two decades, its fleet of 13 Airbus A320s connected travelers across 16 intra-Asia routes—from Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu—making budget travel more accessible in the region.

Yet, even a well-established player can find itself buffeted by shifting headwinds in the ever-competitive Asian skies.

Storm Clouds Gather: Surging Costs & Cut-Throat Competition

Sky-High Supplier Fees

In the past year, Jetstar Asia faced supplier cost hikes of up to 200%, a crushing blow to its operating model. These spikes covered everything from inflight catering to ground handling, fundamentally altering the airline’s cost base.

Rampant Airport Charges

Singapore Changi—often lauded as the world’s best airport—is no bargain for airlines. High landing and terminal fees increasingly squeezed margins on short-haul sectors, where unit economics are razor-thin.

Rivalry on the Runway

Post-pandemic recovery has seen aggressive capacity expansions by regional budget carriers—Scoot, AirAsia, VietJet, and others—driving airfares down and intensifying the fight for every seat. Jetstar Asia, despite its pedigree, struggled to match the scale and yield of its peers.

Final Descent: Recycling Assets & Refocusing Strategy

Redeploying the Fleet

With operations winding down, all 13 Airbus A320s will be repatriated to Australia and New Zealand, where Qantas’s Jetstar Airways and QantasLink can deploy them more profitably. This move is projected to unlock up to A$500 million in capital—funds that will be cycled into fleet renewal, route expansion, and Qantas’s ambitious Project Sunrise ultra-long-haul program.

Bottom-Line Reality Check

Jetstar Asia is set to record an underlying loss of A$35 million for the financial year ending June 30, 2025. In contrast, its sister operations in Australia and Japan remain profitable pillars of the group.

Touchdown for Staff & Passengers

Job Losses & Support

Up to 500 employees face redundancy. Qantas has pledged to provide generous severance packages, as well as outplacement support to secure roles within the wider Qantas group or with other airlines in the region.

Passenger Options

Travelers booked on flights through July 31, 2025, will receive full refunds or be rebooked on alternative carriers wherever possible. The airline’s gradual schedule reduction aims to minimize disruption.

Bigger Picture: Turbulence in Asia’s Budget Skies

Jetstar Asia’s closure highlights a broader shake-out in Asia’s low-cost sector. Key takeaways for the industry:

• Scale Matters: Only carriers with large networks or parent-group synergies can weather steep cost swings.
• Cost Discipline: Outsized supplier or airport fees can swiftly tip routes into the red.
• Market Dynamics: Overcapacity and fare wars post-pandemic have eroded yields across the board.

For Qantas, pruning Jetstar Asia is a painful but pragmatic choice—one that aims to strengthen its balance sheet, sharpen its core focus, and ride out the current storm with greater resilience. Whether other regional players will follow suit remains to be seen, but the message is clear: in the dog-eat-dog world of budget aviation, only the leanest survive.

TL; DR

• Closure Date: Jetstar Asia will cease operations on 31 July 2025.
• Job Impact: Up to 500 roles will be made redundant, with support offered.
• Fleet Redeployment: 13 A320s move to Australia/New Zealand, freeing up to A$500 million in capital.
• Financial Hit: Underlying loss of A$35 million in FY ending June 30, 2025.
• Passengers: Full refunds or rebooking offered for cancelled flights.

With Inputs from Reuters

Last Friday, a freshly painted Boeing 737 MAX sporting Xiamen Airlines’ signature turquoise and white livery taxied out of Boeing Field in Seattle, bound first for Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, before making the trans-Pacific hop to China. FlightRadar24 data confirm this was no joyride: it was the opening leg of the very delivery route that had gone dark in early April when Beijing and Washington imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s airliners.

The Tariff Showdown That Grounded Deliveries

In April, amid escalating tensions, China slapped a 125 percent tariff on U.S. aircraft in response to President Trump’s 145 percent levy on Chinese imports. The result? Deliveries of brand-new Boeings to Chinese carriers screeched to a halt, forcing at least three 737 MAX jets—two bound for Xiamen Airlines and one for Air China—to be flown back from Boeing’s Zhoushan Completion Center in eastern Zhejiang province to the U.S.

Easing Tensions and the Road to June Resumption

Everything changed on May 12, when Washington and Beijing agreed to roll back the bulk of their reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. With that truce in place, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg confidently announced on May 29 that deliveries would resume in June. And, in a clear vote of confidence, the Xiamen-liveried MAX departed Seattle on June 6, setting the stage for a full restoration of the Pacific delivery pipeline.

Diplomacy on the Horizon: London Talks on June 9

President Trump has dispatched trade envoys to London for talks scheduled on June 9, hoping to turn a temporary tariff reprieve into a lasting deal. Aviation executives in both countries are watching closely: the restoration of aircraft shipments could not only reduce Boeing’s growing inventory but also signal a thaw in broader U.S.–China commercial ties.

What Comes Next for Boeing and China?

China represents roughly 10 percent of Boeing’s commercial backlog—a market once slated for 50 new jets this year, with 41 already in production or pre-built. Now that the first leg of the resumed delivery route is complete, all eyes will be on whether Boeing can swiftly clear its backlog, reroute any jets rejected during the tariff impasse, and rebuild goodwill with Chinese carriers before the 90-day tariff suspension lapses.

TL; DR

• Flight Resumed: A Xiamen-liveried 737 MAX departed Seattle for Hawaii on June 6, restarting the Pacific delivery route.
• Tariffs Halted Flights: Deliveries had stopped in April when both nations imposed steep levies on each other’s aircraft.
• Truce in Place: On May 12, most tariffs were rolled back for 90 days, paving the way for Boeing to resume shipments in June.
• London Talks Ahead: U.S. and China trade representatives will meet on June 9 to negotiate a longer-term trade deal.
• Market Stakes: China accounts for about 10 percent of Boeing’s backlog; timely deliveries will be key to preserving that crucial relationship.

With Inputs from Reuters

Since Western sanctions clipped their wings in March 2022, roughly 400 aircraft leased from foreign companies have been grounded in Russian hangars, creating one of the most tangled leasing disputes in aviation history. Major lessors like AerCap and BOC Aviation have already inked deals worth over $2.7 billion to transfer ownership of more than a quarter of these jets to Russia’s state insurer, NSK.

The Final 36: What’s at Stake?

Aeroflot CEO Sergei Aleksandrovski revealed in a late-May interview that 36 planes remain in the “active phase of insurance settlement”—the very last foreign-owned aircraft still awaiting approval for purchase. Closing these deals will mark the end of a saga that has pitted global leasing giants and insurers against geopolitical sanctions and war-risk clauses.

No State Funds This Time

Unlike earlier transactions—where NSK used state budget money to acquire jets, which were then leased back to Aeroflot—Aleksandrovski insists no government financing will bankroll these final 36 craft. Instead, Aeroflot plans to tap its own cash reserves and borrowed funds to seal the deals. This move signals both the airline’s commitment to fiscal independence and its desire to avoid further politicization of the settlements.

Why It Matters: Shaking Up the Global Leasing Market

The resolution of these remaining leases will:

• Close a chapter on one of the largest war-risk insurance disputes ever, involving claims in London, Dublin and beyond.
• Set a precedent for how future sanctions-driven seizures might be handled, potentially influencing lessor-insurer negotiations elsewhere.
• Free up Aeroflot’s balance sheet, letting the carrier focus on fleet modernization—possibly bringing in new Western or domestic aircraft once international relations thaw.

Countdown to Settlement: May–July 2025

Aeroflot is aiming to finalize all agreements for the last 36 jets between May and July 2025. Should the airline meet this timeline, it will have effectively converted 228 foreign-leased airplanes into Russian-registered assets—a monumental reshaping of its fleet.

TL; DR

• ~400 Western-leased planes stranded in Russia since March 28, 2022
• $2.7 billion+ already paid to settle over a quarter of those aircraft
• 36 jets left to settle; expected to close May–July 2025
• No state funds used for these final deals—Aeroflot will self-finance
• Marks the end of a landmark war-risk insurance dispute in aviation

With Inputs from Reuters

In a move that signals a bold stride toward expansion and renewed ambition, SriLankan Airlines has officially welcomed a new Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft to its fleet. The aircraft, registered as 4R-ALT, made a spectacular entrance over the skies of Colombo and Katunayake, performing a ceremonial low fly-past before landing at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) this morning. The addition brings the national carrier’s total fleet to 23 aircraft, reinforcing its resolve to grow and adapt to rising global travel demands.

A Symbol of a New Chapter

According to Sarath Ganegoda, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, this aircraft doesn’t just increase seat capacity — it symbolizes a fresh chapter in the airline’s story.

“This marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for SriLankan Airlines, both operationally and in shaping our long-term fleet strategy,” said Ganegoda. “The addition of this aircraft enhances our capacity to meet the growing demand, while strengthening our contribution to national tourism goals.”

As Sri Lanka continues to gain international recognition as a must-visit destination, the importance of having a modern, versatile fleet cannot be overstated.

Going Long (and Short) with Style

The A330-200 isn’t just any aircraft — it’s a long-haul workhorse known for its reliability, range, and comfort. Featuring two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the aircraft boasts a two-class configuration with:

• 18 Business Class seats
• 242 Economy Class seats

But the real kicker? It will be flying both long-haul and select short-haul routes, giving SriLankan Airlines unprecedented flexibility.

First Wide-Body in 7 Years — Why Now?

This marks the first wide-body aircraft induction since 2017, a significant milestone. Acting CEO and Group CFO Yasantha Dissanayake emphasized how this move is both timely and strategic.

“This will allow us to expand our reach in both existing and new markets, offering improved flight times, better connectivity, and more direct services to the country,” he noted. “It also enhances our cargo capacity, supporting Sri Lanka’s export trade.”

At a time when airlines globally are recovering and recalibrating after turbulent years, SriLankan's move reflects confidence in Sri Lanka’s travel rebound and export potential.

Entertainment, Power, and Passenger Comfort

The new A330-200 is designed with modern travelers in mind. Chief Technical Officer Capt. Patrick Fernando confirmed that the aircraft is equipped with:

• Wireless in-flight entertainment
• Individual USB charging ports at every seat
• Ergonomic seat designs for comfort on long journeys

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen the fleet and induct more wide-body aircraft in the near future,” said Fernando, hinting that more updates may be just around the corner.

A Fleet That’s Ready for Tomorrow

With this addition, SriLankan Airlines now operates a balanced fleet of 13 narrow-body and 10 wide-body aircraft — a mix that gives them the operational agility to cater to both regional and global markets. The move aligns with long-term strategies aimed at improving passenger experience, cargo transport, and tourism impact.

TL; DR – Quick Highlights

• SriLankan Airlines adds an Airbus A330-200 (Reg: 4R-ALT) from Paris to its fleet.
• Performs ceremonial fly-past over Colombo and Katunayake.
• Fleet expands to 23 aircraft, including 10 wide-body jets.
• First wide-body addition in 7 years, signaling growth and renewal.
• Will serve long-haul and select short-haul routes for better global reach.
• Features: Inflight entertainment, USB ports, and 2-class layout (18 Business, 242 Economy).
• Cargo and connectivity boost to support tourism and trade.
• More aircraft expected soon as part of ongoing fleet expansion.

What’s Next?

With a fresh addition like the A330-200 and more likely on the horizon, SriLankan Airlines seems poised not just to fly — but to fly further, smarter, and more connected than ever. Stay tuned.

In a buzzing Mumbai media roundtable leading up to the India Passenger Terminal Show (IPTS) 2025, aviation and infrastructure giants came together with government heavyweights to drop major insights—and some bold ambitions—for India’s fast-evolving airport landscape. Hosted by Media Fusion LLC, the session was themed “Reimagining Airport Passenger Infrastructure through Innovation, Technology, and Sustainability.”

This wasn't just talk. It was a high-powered prelude to an event expected to shake up the global perception of Indian aviation—and it's happening right here, in Mumbai, on June 11–12.

Aviation in India: From Takeoff to Skyrocketing

India’s aviation sector has already made history by becoming the third-largest domestic aviation market globally. It contributes 1.5% to India’s GDP and supports over 7.7 million jobs. That’s just the beginning.

Here’s what’s on the radar:

• 85+ airports developed in the last 10 years
• 350 airports targeted by 2047 under the Viksit Bharat vision
• $12+ billion invested in aviation infrastructure
• $4 billion target share in global MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) by 2031

Building Tomorrow’s Airports Today

Greenfield Dreams & Brownfield Realities

Geetha Priya G from JLL India offered a sharp take: India’s future terminals must be resilient, modular, and digitally integrated. While greenfield projects offer a blank canvas, brownfield upgrades demand creative reuse. Her buzzwords?

• Modular construction
• Digital-first terminal cores
• Energy management centralization
• Sustainability-ready designs

“Let’s not just build terminals; let’s build terminal ecosystems,” she emphasized.

UDAN, Connectivity & Local Empowerment

Sumeet Suseelan of the Ministry of Civil Aviation spotlighted the UDAN Scheme’s role in enhancing regional air connectivity—connecting small towns to big cities. But he didn’t stop there.

India’s future as an aviation training powerhouse is on the cards—with a push to open up cabin crew and ground staff training to private institutes and universities. That’s how you turn a domestic manpower challenge into a global export advantage.

Smart Tech That Feels Like Magic

Digi Yatra: Your Face is Your Boarding Pass

Nitin Sharma of dormakaba gave us a peek into a Jetsons-like future—already in motion. Digi Yatra, India’s biometric boarding experience, is simplifying airport travel with:

• One-click gate registration
• AI-powered group travel features
• Data privacy through automatic purging

And innovations like AI/ML-enhanced wide gates are turning Indian airports into global tech labs.

Customs in 5 Minutes? It’s Happening.

Joseph Gouda, IRS, delivered the punch: “Mumbai clears up to 25,000 international travelers daily, with an average 10-minute customs clearance—we want that down to 5.”

Thanks to:

• AI & ML
• RFID
• Advanced Passenger Information systems

India is making customs smarter—not slower.

Navi Mumbai Airport: The Future Has a Zip Code

With Mumbai’s passenger load surging, Navi Mumbai International Airport’s representative flagged that India’s biggest metros may need additional airports by 2040. Efficiency rankings are already world-class—but keeping up with future demand means scaling now, not later.

People Power: The Heart of Aviation

It’s not all runways and robots. The human side of aviation was a critical focus:

• Workforce development is a now priority
• Women’s leadership in terminal design and ops is rising
• Indian startups are being empowered to co-create infrastructure solutions

This is about inclusive innovation, not just flashy tech.

From Local Show to Global Stage: The Rise of IPTS

Taher Patrawala, MD of Media Fusion LLC, spoke from the heart: “We built IPTS because India lacked a dedicated platform for the full airport ecosystem.”

And they’ve delivered:

• 60+ exhibitors
• 50+ speakers from 10 countries
• 2800+ attendees

IPTS is no longer an event. It’s a movement. A platform that’s positioning India as a thought leader in global aviation.

TL; DR – Jet-Speed Takeaways:

• India is the 3rd-largest domestic aviation market, aiming for 350 airports by 2047.
• $12B+ invested in infrastructure; eyeing a $4B share of global MRO by 2031.
• Digi Yatra, AI, ML, RFID and modular design are transforming airport experiences.
• Training expansion and inclusive workforce development are national priorities.
• Mumbai's customs process is going fully smart, targeting sub-5-minute clearances.
• Women & startups are key to shaping future-ready, people-first terminals.
• IPTS 2025 is India’s aviation coming-out party—with 3000+ stakeholders gathering to shape the skies.

Buckle up. India’s airport revolution is just getting off the ground.