Mumbai headquartered Akasa Air will launch its fifth international destination – Kuwait, from Aug 23, 2024. The airline operates to Doha, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Jeddah. The airline will operate its MAX 8 aircraft, daily as per the below timings.
QP571 BOM1950 – 2200KWI
QP572 KWI2300 – 0535(+1)BOM
As per media reports, India and Kuwait have 12,000 weekly seats each side as per the current bilateral air services agreement. Data accessed from Cirium – an aviation analytics company, shows that two carriers (Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways) operate 11,163 weekly seats across 71 frequencies, while Indian carriers operate 58 frequencies with 10,668. With Akasa Air’s addition, it would mean 65 frequencies and 11,991 seats on offer – the maximum that are possible. This also means that Akasa Air cannot strengthen Kuwait until the BASA is revised. Akasa Air will be the smallest carrier on the India – Kuwait segment with 7 frequencies, while Kuwait Airways has 54, followed by IndiGo at 34 weekly frequencies each way. Kuwait Airways operates to eight cities in India, while Air India Express operates from seven cities in India to Kuwait. IndiGo and Jazeera operate to six city pairs each. Overall, 12 Indian cities are connected to Kuwait with non-stop flights. The maximum connectivity is from Mumbai (34 weekly flights with Akasa), followed by Kochi (22), and Delhi (20).
Interestingly, Akasa Air will have more capacity than IndiGo on the Mumbai – Kuwait sector, where Kuwait Airways operates 13 weekly flights, Air India Express operates seven, Jazeera operates four and IndiGo just three.
Kuwait Airport has two parallel runways and part of the airport also acts as the fighter base for Kuwait Air Force. Local carrier Kuwait Airways has been trying to reinvent itself on the lines of other gulf carriers over the last few years.
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The airline has not inducted an aircraft since February. A lot of its plans, which were publicly announced, have changed and one of that is the induction plan. The single flight stations can put a strain on finances but there are no seats to offer under the existing BASA. It is about time that some BASA’s are revised, especially those where both the sides have exhausted capacity.
Akasa Air has been slowly inching up its utilisation with the international destinations offering similar timings, helping utilise the night ground time. While IndiGo announced additional flights to Jeddah and Abu Dhabi after Akasa Air’s start – there won’t be any other competition to Kuwait due to lack of bilateral rights being available. However, will IndiGo adjust flights from other sectors and add capacity on Mumbai – Kuwait?
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