Akasa Air, in which late investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala held 46% equity stake, is all set to place an order for a fleet of aircraft numbering in three digits by the end of this year, the company said. “By the end of the year we will place a large order for aircraft. I’m not going to disclose the number but the order will be in three digits and it will be significant,” Akasa Air’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube said. Akasa Air’s aircraft purchase intention follows close on the heels of Air India’s massive 470 aircraft order to Airbus and Boeing.
Low-cost airline Akasa Air is also looking at adding over 300 pilots for the new fleet. He added that Akasa Air will need at least 3,500 pilots in the next one decade. Vinay Dube, during a press conference in Bengaluru, said that Akasa Air plans to go international by the 2023 end, and intends to set up a learning academy in Bengaluru. The airline has already ordered a fleet of 72 aircraft and 18 of these have been already delivered, according to a PTI report.
In a company statement, Akasa Air said that the company has completed six months of its operations to become the fastest growing airlines in the country. The airline, currently, has 2,000 employees, which is around 100-110 employees per aircraft. The addition of 300 pilots will happen in the next 12 months, Dube said.
Earlier this month, Air India had announced provisional deals for 220 aeroplanes from Boeing and 250 aircraft from Airbus, which it had said would start entering the fleet from the end of this year through the end of the decade. The airlines in India are all set for the ongoing surge in air travel. In January this year, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia had maintained that the Indian aviation sector witnessed “a 48.9 per cent yearly increase in domestic traffic”.