The newly launched Indian budget airline Akasa Air is pressing ahead with its expansion plans, adding a second city in the western state of Maharashtra – Pune. The airline has made decent progress in less than three months of operations, expanding across the country and even offering services like onboard pets to differentiate itself from competitors.
Pune on the map of Akasa
Akasa Air has announced the addition of Pune (PNQ) to its network, connecting it to Bengaluru (BLR) from 23 November. After Mumbai (BOM), Pune will be AKASA’s second destination in Maharashtra and the ninth overall.
The carrier will start a daily service between the two cities from November 23 and increase it to two services per day from November 26. Praveen Iyer, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Akasa Air commented,
“We are pleased to add Pune to our rapidly expanding network as our second destination in Maharashtra. Connecting two of India’s most important IT hubs – Pune & Bengaluru will not only provide enhanced connectivity and options, but will also provide the signature experience of Akasa Air through our dependable service It’s warm, efficient and reasonably priced.”
Here is the schedule for the first PNQ-BLR-PNQ flight starting November 23:
BLR to PNQ
Flight number: QP 1364
Departure: 15:15
Arrival: 16:50
PNQ to BLR
Flight number: QP 1365
Departure: 17:30
Arrival time: 19:05
Its second daily service will begin on November 26, according to the following schedule:
BLR to PNQ
Flight number: QP 1311
Take off: 05:00
Arrival: 06:35
PNQ to BLR
Flight number: QP 1312
Departure: 07:15
Arrival: 08:50 a.m
Bengaluru has the maximum number of flights
Akasa started with Bengaluru and Mumbai as its main hubs and has already established a strong presence in Bengaluru. As demand grows, the airline is increasing connectivity between the two cities and will add two more flights on the route, bringing a total of up to seven daily flight options in the segment.
Photo: Getty Images
The airline now offers 20 daily flights from Bengaluru connecting seven cities: Mumbai (BOM), Ahmedabad (AMD), Delhi (DEL), Chennai (MAA), Kochi (COK), Guwahati (GAU) and Pune (PNQ). It has steadily boosted its operations and expects to cross approximately 58 daily and 400 weekly flights by the end of November.
decent start
Akasa Air has made good progress in less than three months of operations. Starting with one Boeing 737 MAX, it now has seven such aircraft. Last month, Akasa added Guwahati and Agartala in northeastern India to its network, with Guwahati being the gateway to Assam and Agartala as one of the fastest growing cities in the region.
The latest data from India’s aviation regulator also revealed that the airline captured nearly 1% of the market share in India’s highly competitive aviation sector after its first full month of operations in September.
Akasa also made it clear that he does not want to wait too long before international operations begin. Once it hits the mark of 20 planes in its fleet, it will start planning cruises, which will likely happen sometime next year.
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