Akasa Air bullish on international services; plans flights to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia by Oct-end

The nearly two-year-old Akasa Air plans to start flights to Kuwait, Riyadh and Jeddah by the end of October this year, after launching its maiden overseas services to Doha this month, as the airline is bullish on overseas expansion. "We are very excited about the potential of international flying... the potential that India offers," Akasa Air Founder and CEO Vinay Dube told PTI in an interview on Thursday. The carrier, which has a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, will be launching its international operations on March 28 with a flight connecting Mumbai and Doha. The service will be operated four times a week. "We have got traffic rights for Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah ... all of which we hope to launch by the end of the IATA summer season... beyond that, we have got ambitions to fly all across South East Asia, all across the Indian sub-continent. You will see us accomplish when it comes to international flying, in two years, what probably took airlines 15-20 plus years," Dube said. In response to a question on the delay in filing the airline's international flight schedule for the summer schedule, the Akasa Air chief said it cannot file for international flying until approvals are received from the foreign governments concerned.<br/>