Akasa Air’s rapid expansion is yet to translate into lower losses. The airline increased its operating revenue by 35% to ₹6,168 crore in FY26, from ₹4,583 crore a year earlier, as it expanded its fleet and network. However, its net loss widened 37% to ₹2,716 crore.
The performance of SNV Aviation Pvt. Ltd, which operates India’s third-largest airline, Akasa Air, highlights the challenges of scaling up in a market grappling with rising operating costs, volatile fuel prices and geopolitical disruptions.
“The losses were primarily attributable to continued investments in fleet induction, network expansion and scaling of its international operations, in line with the company’s long-term growth strategy,” the board report for FY26 said.
“Revenue growth does not automatically translate into profitability, particularly during an airline’s fleet-expansion phase. added 10 aircraft in FY26, while capacity grew 30%. Higher aircraft-related and maintenance costs, alongside a sharp increase in foreign-exchange losses, offset the benefits of revenue growth, with expenses rising faster than revenue,” said Jainam Shah, aviation analyst at Equirus Securities.
Shah added that while foreign-exchange losses were a significant drag on profitability, six months of positive Ebitda during FY26 indicated improving underlying operating performance.
“We believe Akasa will need to achieve a greater scale of fleet operations, sustain unit-cost efficiencies and benefit from fuel-cost normalisation before reaching bottom-line break-even,” he said, adding that in the current macroeconomic environment, this is likely to take a few more years.
Unit economics
Akasa’s CFO Ankur Goel in an email response said capacity, measured by available seat kilometres, grew 30% in FY26, while stage-adjusted unit revenue improved 10% and unit costs declined 4%. In simple terms, the airline said it earned more revenue relative to its operating capacity after adjusting for flight distance, while reducing costs per unit.
The Mumbai-based airline’s ambition is not to chase market share but to build a profitable, financially resilient business. “We’re focused on financial stability, profitability. We’re focused on the consumer,” chief executive told Mint in August, rejecting the notion that an airline’s success is determined by its market share.
“Our Ebitdar (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and rent) margins improved by 60%, reflecting stronger unit economics, operational efficiency and disciplined execution,” Goel said.
Akasa said its underlying losses narrowed in FY26. Its profit-before-tax (PBT) loss, excluding mark-to-market foreign-exchange movements, declined about 5% to ₹1,700 crore from around ₹1,800 crore in FY25.
“It is also important to distinguish our underlying operating performance from the mark-to-market foreign exchange movement reflected in our financial statements,” Goel said adding that the impact arose from the year-end revaluation of “certain dollar denominated balance sheet items”.
Cost pressures
Expenses, however, rose faster than revenue.
Akasa’s expenditure increased 36% to ₹8,988 crore in FY26. Foreign-exchange losses rose nearly sixfold to ₹992 crore from ₹173 crore in FY25, while aircraft maintenance and other aircraft-related expenses increased 49% to ₹1,638 crore. Finance costs also rose 49% to ₹787 crore.
Fuel expenses increased 12.5% to ₹2,265 crore, but fell as a share of operating revenue to about 37% from 44% in FY25. Airport charges rose 26% to ₹504 crore. Maintenance, foreign-exchange losses and financing costs therefore weighed more heavily on the bottom line than fuel alone.
The board report recorded a passenger load factor of 77% in FY26, down from 80% a year earlier. A lower load factor can make it harder to spread fixed costs across available seats.
The pressure on Akasa comes as larger airlines also face a challenging operating environment.
IndiGo’s revenue from operations rose 5.1% to ₹84,962 crore, but expenses increased 17.2% to ₹89,678 crore. It reported a net loss of ₹2,394 crore, against a profit of ₹7,258 crore in FY25.
Air India Group’s consolidated loss widened to ₹22,238 crore from ₹10,859 crore. Total income declined to ₹71,870 crore from ₹78,636 crore, while expenses rose to ₹93,733 crore.
Together, the figures show how different cost and revenue pressures affected the three airlines, despite their different scales and expansion strategies.
Fleet expansion
expanded nearly 40%, taking its Boeing 737 MAX fleet to 37 aircraft at the end of March, against 27 a year earlier. Its network reached 26 domestic and six international destinations, according to the board report. By 30 September 2026, its fleet had grown to 43 aircraft.
The expansion came against a backdrop of a sharp slowdown in India’s domestic aviation market. Domestic passenger traffic grew just 1.33% year-on-year to 167.46 million in FY26, its slowest pace since the post-pandemic recovery began. Akasa Air held about 5.5% of India’s domestic aviation market in August 2026, according to the latest released DGCA data.