Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Akasa Airlines | Aditya Ghosh to join as co-founder: Report

Former President of domestic carrier Indigo, Aditya Ghosh will be co-founder of India’s newest airline Akasa, along with market bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube, sources told The Economic Times.

The sources said that Ghosh would own less than 10 percent of Akasa and will not be part of the management but will be on the board as Jhunjhunwala’s nominee; while the market ace himself will hold 40 percent stake and Dube will have 15 percent, plus post as CEO.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Investors in Akasa include Airbnb and Par Capital Management – which has interests in US ULCC Sun Country Airlines.

The new ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) will mark Ghosh’s “return to the aviation industry” after his exit as President and whole time director of Indigo in 2018. He is currently a board member at Fab India and Oyo Rooms.

Ghosh did not respond to queries, the report added.

Ghosh worked at Indigo for 10 years and built it up from a new entrant into India’s biggest carrier with a fleet of 160 planes and market share of Rs 55,000 crore, the report noted

Other key posts at Akasa will see former Jet Airways senior VP Praveen Iyer take up COO role, while former GoAir revenue management VP Anand Srinivasan will be CTO, and former Jet flight operations VP Floyd Gracious is likely to have a similar role. Industry veteran Neelu Khatri is being billed as head of corporate affairs.

Jhunjhunwala is investing $35 million in Akasa and said he expects a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Aviation Ministry soon. Plans are for a fleet of 70 aircraft. The new entrant in India’s aviation scene notably comes amid deep impact on the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.