Hundreds of excess pilots grounded at Akasa as plane deliveries retard

The global shortage of new aircraft that has disrupted expansion plans for most airlines in the world has also led to an oversupply of pilots at Akasa Air. Akasa Air has nearly 850 pilots, which is far in excess of the cockpit crew it needs to operate a fledgling fleet of 26 aircraft, according to industry practice. As a new airline that started flights post COVID-19 in August 2022 when the aviation industry was badly hit by global travel restrictions to curtail the spread of coronavirus, Akasa Air chalked an ambitious plan to grow to a 72 aircraft strong fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8s over the first five years riding on the growth prospect of the Indian domestic aviation market, which is the third biggest and the fastest growing in the world. But 2024 put a spanner in those plans as the airline was able to add only three aircraft over a span of 12 months, after broadly adding a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft per month over a span of two years in 2022 and 2023 and growing to a fleet size of 23 planes. The airline’s pilots have now started emailing complaint letters to the regulator and the Ministry of Civil Aviation about “favouritism” within the airline in releasing pilots for flying duties, while the DGCA has also slapped fines on Akasa Air and suspended two of its senior officials over training lapses.