Akasa Air on Thursday said it has received the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from aviation regulator DGCA and will start commercial operations by the end of this month.
Akasa Air’s grant signifies the airline’s operational readiness to satisfactorily meet all regulatory and compliance requirements, Akasa Air said in a statement.
The process was completed under the supervision of DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) with the airline successfully operating several Siddha flights.
The airline, backed by veteran stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, took delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in India on June 21.
“We are grateful to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA for their constructive guidance, proactive support and the highest level of efficiency during the AOC process. Vinay Dubey, Founder-CEO, Akasa Air, said, “We are now looking forward to open our flights for sale, thereby commencing commercial operations by the end of July.
Following the government’s initiative to usher in a new era of digitisation, Akasa Air is the first airline whose end-to-end AOC process was conducted using the government’s progressive EGCA digital platform, the airline said.
According to the airline, it will start commercial operations with two planes later this month and will add planes to its fleet every month later.
By the end of the financial year 2022-23, the airline will have 18 aircraft and after that, 12-14 aircraft will be added every 12 months. It will fulfill its order of 72 aircraft to be delivered over a period of five years, it said.
Last November, Akasa Air announced the order for 72 ‘737 MAX’ aircraft from Boeing. The order includes two variants of the 737 MAX family – the 737-8 and 737-8-200.