Aditya Ghosh, former president, IndiGo will be co-founder of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's low-budget newest airline Akasa Air, along with former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube, sources told The Economic Times.
According to the financial daily, Ghosh would own less than 10 percent of Akasa and will not be part of the management but will be on board as Jhunjhunwala’s nominee. In an interview to Bloomberg, Big Bull had said he would hold 40 percent stake and Dube will have 15 percent, besides the post as CEO of the airline.
Investors in Akasa include Airbnb and Par Capital Management – which has interests in US ULCC Sun Country Airlines. The ultra-low cost airline plans to have a fleet of 70 aircraft in four years.
Jhunjhunwala told Bloomberg Television in an interview that he expects to get a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the next 15 days.
“For the culture of a company to be frugal you’ve to start o ..
The ultra-low-cost airline will be called Akasa Air. The team, comprising a former senior executive of Delta Air Lines Inc., is searching for planes that can carry at least 180 passengers, the report said.
Jhunjhunwala-backed budget airline may become operation by the end of this year or the beginning of the next year, according to a Times of India report.
There were around 11 million domestic air passengers in the country from April to June this year, which is 53 per cent less than the January-March period, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh has said on Wednesday. Moreover, a total of 5,637 domestic flights were cancelled in March-June period this year amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the minister said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Currently, the Indian carriers are allowed, by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, to operate not more than 65 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. The recovery of aviation market in Indian has been significantly impacted by caps on fare and capacity that has been placed by the government since May last year, Director General of global airlines body International Air Transport Association (IATA) Willie Walsh, PTI said.
