By Chandini Monnappa
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) – New Indian budget airline Akasa Air plans to launch its first commercial flight in June and is working to get all relevant licences, Chief Executive Vinay Dube said on Friday.
The airline is backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, known as “India’s Warren Buffett”, who has teamed up with former chief executives of IndiGo and Jet Airways to tap into rising long-term prospects for domestic air travel in India.
The airline aims to have 18 aircraft within 12 months from launch and will have 72 planes in five years, Dube said speaking at an air show in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
The carrier will fly within India. Dube did not say which cities it would serve. In November last year, Akasa Air, which will compete with other Indian airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet, placed an order for 72 Boeing737 MAX jets, valued at nearly $9 billion at list prices. Akasa Air received initial clearance from India’s civil aviation ministry to start operations in October last year.
(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Hyderabad; Editing by Susan Fenton)
