Akasa Airlines has turned to a bunch of veterans from the defunct Jet Airways to give shape to its top deck, just days after receiving a No Objection Certificate from the aviation ministry to begin operations.
Read: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-promoted Akasa Air gets no-objection certificate from Civil Aviation Ministry, DGCA: Reports
Akasa, the ultra low-cost carrier funded by billionaire stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has named Bhavin Joshi as senior vice-president of finance and leasing and Anand Srinivasan as chief information officer. Praveen Iyer has been named chief commercial officer and Khatri vice-president–government affairs, said a person familiar with the matter.
Belson Coutinho will head marketing, Adam Voss will be in charge of engineering, Ajit Baghchandani will helm inflight services and Capt. Floyd Gracious will the head of operations at the new airline, said this person asking not to be named.
The common thread in all these hirings is that most of them are former senior employees of Jet Airways, which ended operations in April 2019 because of a severe cash crunch. Vinay Dubey, the founder and chief executive officer of Akasa, was the last CEO of Jet.
Dube is also an aviation veteran who has worked with several airlines, including US-based Delta Airlines. Aditya Ghosh, former president of IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share and fleet, is a co-founder at Akasa.
More personnel will be “interviewed and hired” in the coming days, according to people who have direct knowledge about Akasa’s recruitment.
Akasa has essentially looked at people with experience in Indian aviation, but mostly from Jet Airways, to fill its top rung. Iyer, the chief commercial officer, earlier worked with Jet Airways before joining GoAir (now GoFirst) as chief commercial officer. He left that airline in 2020.
Coutinho is another veteran who worked with Jet Airways for more than 24 years, including as Senior Vice President-Marketing, eCommerce and Innovations, Loyalty and Voice of Guest when the airline ceased operations in April 2019. He then moved to VFS Global as chief marketing officer.
Voss is an experienced executive in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) space. He has worked with various airlines including as Chief Executive Officer, South African Airways Technical. He too had a stint at Jet Airways as as senior vice-president, engineering and maintenance. Bagchandani worked as senior general manager, InFlight Services at Jet Airways before moving to GoAir as vice-president, Inflight Services.
Gracious also worked as an experienced pilot with Jet Airways, including in a management capacity. Khatri worked as head of Honeywell Aerospace previously.
Jhunjhunwala is considering investing $ 35 million for a 40 per cent stake in the carrier and plans to operate 70 aircraft within four years. CNBC TV-18 reported that the airline base its operations from Bengaluru. The NOC is one of the many steps leading up to the Air Operating Permit (AOP).
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