AI Express, Akasa rip premium seats even as no-frills IndiGo adds business class

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₹3,500 over and above its regular fare, Air India Express tagged its business class seats at about ₹16,000 in the Delhi-Mumbai sector. That’s still lower than the ₹26,000 charged by its parent entity, the Tata Group-owned full service Air India, for a business class seat on the same route. “We would have replaced these business class seats earlier itself if these replacements were available earlier," a senior Air India Express executive said on condition of anonymity.

“The seats were not available due to supply chain issues and are available now. We have started to replace the seats on the aircraft now and will soon be able to replace it on all of them." Air India Express did not respond toMint’s email sent on Thursday evening. Also read | IndiGoStretch—When aloo tikki becomes a Gupta burger Aviation experts said that the decision of Air India Express and Akasa Air to chuck the premium seats aligns with the business philosophies of these two airlines.

Having just one tier of customers reduces complexities, helping them maintain low cost of operations, they said. “Both the carriers are no-frills. So it makes sense that they want to have their entire cabins completely economy," said Ajay Prakash, president of Travel Agents Federation of India.

Akasa Air has 24 aircraft and is set to induct one more shortly. All its aircraft are Boeing 737 MAX and have the same engine to standardize crew. It has more than 200 additional aircraft on order with Boeing, which will be inducted through 2030.

Air India Express has 80 aircraft, of which 52 are Boeing 737 and Boeing 737 MAX. The rest are Airbus A320s. Also read | Air India eyes regional aviation space in challenge to IndiGo While these low-cost carriers are focusing on