India’s newest airline orders 150 Boeing Max aircraft, in good news for plane maker

Visitors gather near an Akasa Air aircraft (C) during the "Wings India 2024" exhibition at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad on January 18, 2024. India's newest airline, Akasa Air, said on January 18 it has ordered 150 Boeing 737 MAX planes as it looks to bolster its fleet and kick off international operations. (AFP)
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Updated 19 January 2024
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India’s newest airline orders 150 Boeing Max aircraft, in good news for plane maker

  • Akasa Air announced the order of the Boeing planes at an airshow in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad
  • Launched in 2022, Akasa Air is looking to expand its network in India and South Asia

HYDERABAD, India: India’s newest airline will buy 150 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, in the first major announced sale for the manufacturer since a panel blew out of another Max model in midflight earlier this month, the airline announced Thursday.

Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube announced the order of the Boeing 737 Max 10 and 737 Max 8-200 planes at an airshow in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
The airplanes will increase the airline’s total Boeing orders to 226, Dube said. It currently operates a fleet of 22 Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 8-200 planes.
None of the planes is the same model as the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 on which a door plug blew out shortly after taking off on Jan. 5 from Portland, Oregon, leaving a hole in the fuselage. The cabin lost pressure and the plane was forced to descend rapidly and make an emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported.
Since launching operations in 2022, Akasa Air has captured about 4 percent of India’s domestic market, serving 18 destinations. It is looking to expand its network in India and South Asia.
“This milestone demonstrates the strength of our partnership with Akasa Air,” Boeing Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope said in a statement.
Boeing’s 2023 Commercial Market outlook forecasts the delivery of 2,705 new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years for the South Asian region, of which nearly 90 percent will be single-aisle jets.
Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara, Air India Express and Akasa Air are among India’s main airlines.


US ambassador accuses Poland parliament speaker of insulting Trump

Updated 05 February 2026
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US ambassador accuses Poland parliament speaker of insulting Trump

  • Tom Rose said the decision was made because of speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty’s “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against the US leader
  • “We will not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations, nor disrespect (Trump),” Rose wrote on X

WARSAW: The United States embassy will have “no further dealings” with the speaker of the Polish parliament after claims he insulted President Donald Trump, its ambassador said on Thursday.
Tom Rose said the decision was made because of speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty’s “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against the US leader.
“We will not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations, nor disrespect (Trump), who has done so much for Poland and the Polish people,” Rose wrote on X.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded the same day, writing on X: “Ambassador Rose, allies should respect, not lecture each other.”
“At least this is how we, here in Poland, understand partnership.”


On Monday, Czarzasty criticized a joint US-Israeli proposal to support Donald Trump’s candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I will not support the motion for a Nobel Peace Prize for President Trump, because he doesn’t deserve it,” he told journalists.
Czarzasty said that rather than allying itself more closely with Trump’s White House, Poland should “strengthen existing alliances” such as NATO, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
He criticized Trump’s leadership, including the imposition of tariffs on European countries, threats to annex Greenland, and, most recently, his claims that NATO allies had stayed “a little off the front lines” during the war in Afghanistan.
He accused Trump of “a breach of the politics of principles and values, often a breach of international law.”
After Rose’s reaction, Czarzasty told local news site Onet: “I maintain my position” on the issue of the peace prize.
“I consistently respect the USA as Poland’s key partner,” he added later on X.
“That is why I regretfully accept the statement by Ambassador Tom Rose, but I will not change my position on these fundamental issues for Polish women and men.”
The speaker heads Poland’s New Left party, which is part of Tusk’s pro-European governing coalition, with which the US ambassador said he has “excellent relations.”
It is currently governing under conservative-nationalist President Karol Nawrocki, a vocal Trump supporter.
In late January, Czarzasty, along with several other high-ranking Polish politicians, denounced Trump’s claim that the United States “never needed” NATO allies.
The parliamentary leader called the claims “scandalous” and said they should be “absolutely condemned.”
Forty-three Polish soldiers and one civil servant died as part of the US-led NATO coalition in Afghanistan.