Akasa Air Signs Deal With Griffin Global For Sale And Leaseback Of 5 Boeing 737 Max Aircraft, Set To Launch Commercial Operations by July 2022

Akasa Air, a new airline company founded by India's ace Investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has signed a contract with Irish leasing company Griffin Global Asset Management for sale and leaseback (SLB) of five Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Under the sale and leaseback model (SLB), an airline acquires the aircraft at an attractive price and sells the aircraft to a lessor — ideally at a profit — and leases it back for its own use. The SLBs are important as they are cash generative and also help the airline with fleet flexibility.

The aircraft deliveries are scheduled to begin in June 2022 and will include Akasa Air’s first several aircraft. The airline is expected to launch its commercial operations by July 2022. It plans to fly 18 aircraft by the end of March 2023 across domestic routes in the country, focusing on metro to tier-2 and tier-3 cities,

Akasa Air recently announced that it has chosen the cloud enabled Navitaire Airline Platform to power its digital retailing strategy.

In Nov 2021, Akasa Air announced that it has ordered 72 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes to build its fleet. Akasa Air's order includes two variants from the 737 MAX family, including the 737-8 and the high-capacity 737-8-200.

Griffin, a commercial aircraft leasing and alternative asset management firm, offers customized fleet solutions and innovative financing products to airlines globally.

“We were introduced to Akasa Air’s management team over a year ago and have watched with excitement as they skillfully built the airline from the ground up. We are honored to enter into this long-term relationship right from Akasa’s launch. They have developed a business strategy that addresses a need in the market and assembled a very impressive team to execute that plan,” said Ryan McKenna, Griffin’s Chief Executive Officer.