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Akasa Air uses Elevate loyalty programme to push repeat, direct bookings
Our read
Akasa will use Elevate to trade fare-led growth for higher-margin direct repeat bookings, but meaningful competitive differentiation will depend on launching redemptions and everyday-earn partners within the next year.
For operators
Akasa’s Elevate programme makes direct booking and tier benefits a practical lever to capture first-party data, personalise service and drive repeat travel beyond fare-led acquisition.
Watch
Announcement of a redemption currency, earn rate and expiry policy.
The report,
Akasa Air is using its new Elevate loyalty programme to drive repeat bookings, direct-channel data and personalised service. The airline enters a mature Indian loyalty market led by Air India and IndiGo, but has not yet enabled point redemptions or announced external partners.
Channel facts
From the report. Source details below
| Akasa's most frequent customer has flown | 152 times |
|---|---|
| Silver: | 6 eligible flights or Rs 75,000 eligible spend |
| Gold: | 15 flights or Rs 1.25 lakh eligible spend |
| Platinum: | 30 flights or Rs 2.5 lakh eligible spend |
| Air India Maharaja Club has more than 10 million members and | over 100 partners |
| Elevate offers 4 additional points per Rs 100 on direct bookings; IndiGo offers 4 BluChips and Air India offers 2 Maharaja Points per | Rs 100 |
| Pets on Akasa cabin pet-weight limit increased from 7 kg to | 10 kg |
Also in the report
- Corporate travel represented 33% of India's air gross booking value in FY24
- India's corporate air market was estimated at $8.9 billion within a $27.5 billion total air market
- Akasa Elevate has four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum
- Fewer than 20-30% of Indian airline bookings occur through airline-owned digital channels
What it means for online and offline
Akasa has a clear partnership opportunity to close its loyalty gap through redemption, co-brand, travel and lifestyle alliances that add utility to Elevate faster than building benefits alone.
Signals to track
- Share of bookings shifting to Akasa-owned digital channels versus OTAs.
- Launch of bank, card, hotel, mobility or retail partner integrations.
- Member-only direct-booking pricing or exclusive redemption inventory.
- Tier-benefit expansion into priority services, upgrades, lounges or fee waivers.
- Evidence of higher ancillary revenue, repeat-booking rates or member contribution to passenger revenue.
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- Network expansion into business-heavy routes or international destinations that increases programme relevance.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Launch points accrual and redemption, initially for flights, ancillaries and upgrades.
- Offer member-only fares, bonus tier credits or ancillary bundles for direct app and web bookings.
- Add payment, hotel, ground transport and lifestyle partners to create non-flight engagement.
- Use member data to personalize seat, baggage, meal and destination offers by route and travel purpose.
- Introduce status-match or accelerated-tier campaigns to acquire frequent flyers from competing carriers.
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- Pursue a co-branded credit-card, bank-card or UPI-linked rewards partnership.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
Elevate may be more a defensive marketing layer than a durable retention engine. Without redemption options, a broad partner network or meaningful aspirational rewards, customers may enroll for immediate booking perks but still choose competitors on price, schedule and network breadth. Four tiers can also add operational complexity and future reward liability before Akasa has proven that loyalty-driven incremental revenue exceeds discount and servicing costs.
The source
Published
First seen