Akasa Air, AirBorneo lead small-carrier surge despite high fuel costs
Akasa Air aims to raise its capacity while AirBorneo plans to connect more regional destinations as larger rivals face constraints to expand
Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, said last week that it was seeking to raise 10.5 billion rupees (US$110 million) through equity and debt, including loans from state-run banks, to fund its expansion. Last month, the Mumbai-based low-cost carrier said it was targeting a 30 per cent increase in its passenger-carrying capacity in the financial year to March 2027.
The airline flies mainly to Indian cities and several destinations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The announcements point to a trend of low-cost and regional carriers realigning their strategy, or intensifying their core focus, to tap growth within Asia rather than chase long-distance routes to destinations such as the United States and Europe, according to analysts.
“The headline narrative, that the Middle East crisis is bad for Asian aviation, is only part of the story, and smaller carriers are reading the more nuanced picture correctly,” said Mayur Patel, regional commercial and industry affairs leader for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa at OAG, a travel data and aviation analytics firm.