Akasa Air's financial muscle: Can induct 72 aircraft over next 5 yrs

Chennai, Aug 17

India's new private airline Akasa Air founded by late broker-investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on Wednesday said that it has financial means to induct 72 aircraft over the next five years.

The company added that it has received its third aircraft in Delhi which will be put into operation on the Mumbai-Bengaluru sector shortly.

"We will continue to grow our fleet by adding one new aircraft every two weeks," Vinay Dube, Founder and CEO said in a statement.

"Thanks in no small part to Jhunjhunwala, for which we will always be grateful, Akasa Air is a well-capitalised airline with the financial means to induct 72 aircraft over the next five years," he added.

"In fact, our financial platform is strong enough to allow Akasa to place an aircraft order in the next 18 months that will be significantly larger than our first. In simple terms, our growth is secure," he said.

According to Dube, Akasa Air will honour Jhunjhunwala's legacy, values and belief in us by striving to run an extraordinary airline.

Meanwhile, a questionnaire sent to Akasa Air several days back on its finances, business plan, fleet and route expansion, financing model for the aircrafts, marketing strategy, among others, remained unanswered.