NEW DELHI: In a bid to put the debilitating exodus of pilots behind them, Akasa co-founder and CEO Vinay Dube said Tuesday that an order for “three-digit aircraft will be placed within the next 75 days.” While it is known that the airline plans to raise $400 million, it claims it has sufficient resources to accommodate the upcoming financing airplane order at the end of the year. The 20-aircraft airline’s current order book includes another 56 Boeing 737 MAXs.
While he did not comment on plans to raise $400 million, Dube told TOI: “We have an extremely strong cash position today. Akasa has been generating money since it started operations. We have enough money today, which means we don’t need any other external sources. of financing to place a three-digit aircraft order.”
In his first comments after the exodus, which saw more than 40 pilots resign and Akasa forced to cancel hundreds of pilots, the CEO said it was “unprecedented and unexpected (for an Indian airline) that a handful of pilots quit within 24 to 48 hours of the flight was about to depart. resigning”. The airline later took these pilots to court, who in turn cited alleged violation of employment conditions as a reason for not serving the notice period, and demanded several million in damages from them.
Dube claimed that Akasa is an “employee-centric” airline. “I won’t say that pilots did this. There were only a handful. In April we had about 330 pilots. Today we have more than 450. So even over that period the number of pilots has increased. We added about 30 .% of pilots between April and September, despite the handful that left,” Dube said.
Some of these pilots were still undergoing training and had not yet been released when the exodus occurred, forcing Akasa to cancel dozens of flights. “We always plan ahead, plan for contingencies. But contingency planning doesn’t include something like this (40 departures at one time).”
Eager to put this turbulence behind it, Akasa is now preparing to launch international flights sometime this winter. It has rights from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. As bilateral contacts have been exhausted in Dubai, the country has not received one for the same. Dube did not give a timeline on when the flights will begin, saying there is still some work to be done, such as obtaining designated Indian airline status and then working with aviation authorities abroad to get slots and approvals.
“I would say soon enough and we are very excited. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are great destinations. As for other destinations in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, it is only a matter of time for us to fly there “There is nothing we are doing on Akasa for the short term or we have to get it this month or this year. We are building an airline for the long term. We will get those (rights to other international destinations) soon enough,” said Dube.
Akasa, which started flying last August, hopes to end this calendar year with 22 aircraft (currently there are 20); the fiscal year with approximately 25 aircraft and the following fiscal year with approximately 40 aircraft.
While he did not comment on plans to raise $400 million, Dube told TOI: “We have an extremely strong cash position today. Akasa has been generating money since it started operations. We have enough money today, which means we don’t need any other external sources. of financing to place a three-digit aircraft order.”
In his first comments after the exodus, which saw more than 40 pilots resign and Akasa forced to cancel hundreds of pilots, the CEO said it was “unprecedented and unexpected (for an Indian airline) that a handful of pilots quit within 24 to 48 hours of the flight was about to depart. resigning”. The airline later took these pilots to court, who in turn cited alleged violation of employment conditions as a reason for not serving the notice period, and demanded several million in damages from them.
Dube claimed that Akasa is an “employee-centric” airline. “I won’t say that pilots did this. There were only a handful. In April we had about 330 pilots. Today we have more than 450. So even over that period the number of pilots has increased. We added about 30 .% of pilots between April and September, despite the handful that left,” Dube said.
Some of these pilots were still undergoing training and had not yet been released when the exodus occurred, forcing Akasa to cancel dozens of flights. “We always plan ahead, plan for contingencies. But contingency planning doesn’t include something like this (40 departures at one time).”
Eager to put this turbulence behind it, Akasa is now preparing to launch international flights sometime this winter. It has rights from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. As bilateral contacts have been exhausted in Dubai, the country has not received one for the same. Dube did not give a timeline on when the flights will begin, saying there is still some work to be done, such as obtaining designated Indian airline status and then working with aviation authorities abroad to get slots and approvals.
“I would say soon enough and we are very excited. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are great destinations. As for other destinations in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, it is only a matter of time for us to fly there “There is nothing we are doing on Akasa for the short term or we have to get it this month or this year. We are building an airline for the long term. We will get those (rights to other international destinations) soon enough,” said Dube.
Akasa, which started flying last August, hopes to end this calendar year with 22 aircraft (currently there are 20); the fiscal year with approximately 25 aircraft and the following fiscal year with approximately 40 aircraft.
