Boeing poised to bag order for 70 planes from billionaire Jhunjhunwala’s startup Akasa Air

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Boeing is close to winning an order for around 70 to 100 of its 737 MAX planes from Indian billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s low-cost startup airline Akasa, pending separate talks on a long-term engine service deal, according to a Reuters report.</p>
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Jhunjhunwala's plan to launch an ultra-low-cost airline, could give planemaker Boeing a chance to recover some lost ground in India as arch rival Airbus has forged ahead in the country.</p>
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While Jhunjhunwala's plan to launch Akasa Air comes at a time when airlines are piling up losses due to the crippling effect of the coronavirus pandemic, it is the aviation sector's long-term prospect that he appears to be focused on. He will also be looking at sourcing planes at a low price due to the recession in the industry.</p>
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<strong>Also read: </strong> <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/latest-news/spicejet-expects-to-start-boeing-max-ops-by-sep-end-114434.html">SpiceJet expects to start Boeing 737 Max ops by Sep-end</a></p>
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Jhunjhunwala is referred to as the “Warren Buffet of India” because of his successful stock market investments and is valued at $4.6 billion by Forbes.</p>
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For Boeing this comes as a big opportunity to gain market share as it does not have any other major operator for its narrowbody 737 aircraft in India apart from SpiceJet.</p>
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The Akasa deal could turn out to be one of the biggest deals of the year outside the United States to acquire purchased or leased 737s, according to market analysts.</p>
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Details of the Akasa venture have not been fully disclosed, but Jhunjhunwala told Bloomberg he plans to have a 40% stake in the low-cost airline, which will have 70 aircraft of up to 180 seats within four years.</p>
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Akasa's other co-founders are Aditya Ghosh, who has worked with IndiGo and played a key role in the airline’s early success, and Vinay Dube, a former CEO of Jet who has also worked with Delta.</p>
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Indian commercial airlines are dominated by low-cost carriers (LCCs) including IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoFirst and AirAsia India, with the majority of them operating a fleet of Airbus's narrowbody planes.</p>
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These airlines also have over 900 planes on order of which 710 are Airbus while only 185 are Boeing 737 aircraft.</p>