Akasa Air received its third aircraft in Delhi yesterday, 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. While these are gratifying moments in our journey, we at Akasa Air continue to mourn the passing of Mr. Jhunjhunwala. For those of us at Akasa that got to know him and whose lives he has touched, this is a deep personal loss,” Vinay Dube, Founder and CEO, Akasa Air, said.
Thanks in no small part to Mr. Jhunjhunwala, for which we will always be grateful, Akasa Air is a well-capitalized airline with the financial means to induct 72 aircraft over the next five years. 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, Dube said.
He further expressed his gratitude to Mr. Jhunjhunwala for recruiting some of the best aviation talent in the country. “He wanted us to have a top-notch leadership team that made all day-to-day decisions at the airline without having to fall back on him or any other investor. Anyone that saw him on our inaugural flight on August 7th knows how proud he was of each Akasa employee and partner. On our part, we couldn’t be prouder and more fortunate to have known him,” Dube added.
Jhunjhunwala recognised India’s potential as one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world with an unparalleled potential and decades of progress ahead of us. He was a true believer in India’s potential and saw Akasa Air serving our nation by building the transportation links that will support India’s ongoing economic transformation.
Akasa Air will honour Mr. Jhunjhunwala’s legacy, values, and belief in us by striving to run an extraordinary airline, Dube said.
