Akasa Air has launched Akasa Elevate, its first loyalty programme, to coincide with the airline’s fourth anniversary of commercial operations, with founder and CEO Vinay Dube calling the carrier’s journey so far ‘extremely exciting.’

The programme lets members earn points on eligible flights and ancillary products and services, and — notably for a four-year-old carrier — allows passengers who have flown since April 1 this year to join and claim points retroactively, effectively backdating the loyalty relationship for existing customers.

For a startup airline that spent its first four years focused primarily on rapid network expansion and fleet growth, the shift to a structured loyalty programme signals a maturing business model: retention economics become more valuable once a carrier has built enough route density and flight frequency to make repeat-customer point accumulation meaningful.

Dube framed the launch as a natural extension of Akasa Air’s positioning as an ‘Experience-Led Carrier,’ with tier progression based on either eligible flights or spending — a dual-track structure that rewards both frequent flyers and higher-value occasional travellers.

The programme’s design, including extra rewards for direct bookings, also reflects a broader industry pattern of airlines using loyalty programmes to reduce dependency on third-party travel agents and online travel aggregators, capturing more of the customer relationship directly.

Since its August 2022 launch, Akasa Air has grown its route network to include Gulf destinations such as Doha, and the loyalty programme’s rollout at this four-year mark suggests the airline now sees customer lifetime value, not just route count, as its next growth lever.

The programme features fast tier progression based on either eligible flights or spending, earnings on flights and ancillary products, extra rewards for direct bookings, and unlimited priority services as members climb through membership tiers.

Akasa Air began commercial operations on August 7, 2022, and has since expanded its domestic and international network, including routes to Gulf destinations such as Doha.

Photo by Krish Aarush, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0