Akasa Air starts direct flights between Mumbai and Kolkata

Akasa Air

Akasa Air on July 7 announced that starting today it will start a daily direct flight between Mumbai and Kolkata, and has also increased frequency between Delhi and Ahmedabad by adding two flights a day on the route.

The airline said that it now connects Kolkata with three destinations--Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Guwahati, with 21 weekly flights.

Last month Moneycontrol reported that Akasa Air was eyeing expansion in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, and Kerala.

Akasa Air now operates 200 weekly flights from Mumbai connecting 12 domestic destinations, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Lucknow, Goa, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Bagdogra, Kochi and Guwahati.

The airline has increased frequency to various destinations such as Delhi, Goa, and Bengaluru to three, four and eight average daily flights respectively, the airline said in a statement.

The airline has bolstered its connectivity from Pune with direct flights to Delhi and Goa, taking its weekly departures from the city up to 47 flights connecting a total of four domestic destinations including Bengaluru, Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, and Goa.

Akasa Air has also said that it expects to have around 3,500 employees by the end of this year.

Akasa Air currently operates more than 900 flights every week and also plans to start international operations by the end of 2023.

The airline, which started flying in August last year, currently has 19 planes and expects to have a total of 72 aircraft by March 2027.

Last month, the airline announced it will acquire four more Boeing 737 Max planes and said it was looking at a three-digit aircraft order by the end of this year.

In May, Akasa Air carried 6.29 lakh passengers and the domestic market share stood at 4.8 percent.