India’s latest airline Akasa Air announced on December 20 that it has added Goa as the 12th destination on its flight network. The airline will be offering two daily flights from Goa to Bengaluru, increasing it to three daily flights from February 1, 2023, along with two daily flights from Goa to Mumbai.

The enhanced connectivity between the commercial cities and one of the country’s most popular tourism hubs, will help boost economic growth and increase the tourist footprint, the company said in a statement.

Akasa Air, which commenced operations in August 2022, has been scaling up its operations and has taken delivery of 10 aircraft, carrying over 5 lakh revenue passengers in less than six months from the start of its operations. By end-December 2022, the airline expects to cross over 500 weekly flights and has announced a total of 18 routes across 12 cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, and Goa.

Commenting on the new destination announcement, Praveen Iyer, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Akasa Air, said, “We are pleased to announce our 12th destination, Goa with flights from New Goa Manohar International Airport (Mopa), one of the newest airports that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 11, 2022. We are really excited to connect Goa with two of our strong metro cities in the South and West, Bengaluru and Mumbai. We launch Goa with five daily departures connecting to Bengaluru and Mumbai.”

“The city of beaches, Goa, has played a significant role in putting Indian tourism on the global map and is one of the most popular tourist destinations within India, all year round. It has also emerged as a manufacturing base for several leading companies, that constantly require greater connectivity to metro cities. The commencement of this route will enable us to enhance connectivity between these cities while offering our signature warm and efficient service to our passengers. Our operations from the city will cater to business and leisure travellers who are on the lookout for convenient and affordable flying options.”
The airline has stated that it will continue to grow its network to establish a strong pan-India presence focusing on the metro to tier two and three route connectivity, using a fleet expansion plan that adds one new aircraft every 15 days. Akasa Air’s fleet size will be 18 aircraft by the end of March 2023 and over the next four years, the airline expects to add 54 more aircraft, taking its total fleet size to 72.

Bookings for flights on Akasa Air are available on its website www.akasaair.com, Android & IOS app as well as through travel agents and several OTAs across the country.