Akasa Air well capitalized, path to profitability intact: CEO Dube

The investment is ongoing even as the airline is closing in on a $120 million capital infusion from a group of investors including the family offices of billionaires Azim Premji and Ranjan Pai, according to an executive briefed on the development.

“We can’t comment in any way (on the financing plan),” Alcazar CEO Dube said in an interview. Mint Thursday. “We are ecstatic about our financial results and Akasa is well capitalized,” he said.

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“We should have another good year (2025) with very strong demand. By the end of the next financial year (2025 or 2026), Alkasa Air will continue to be India’s fastest growing airline. “

Dube started as an operations research analyst at American Airlines, the world’s largest airline by fleet size, before spending a decade at Delta Air Lines. He took over as Jet Airways CEO in 2017 but left the company in May 2019, a month after the airline stopped flying due to the financial crisis. Later, he also served as the CEO of GoAir for six months. Earlier this week, the bankruptcy court decided to distribute GoAir’s assets, something GoAir did to Jet Airways last year.

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Growth in 2024

Dube declined to disclose the airline’s financials but said it had achieved “high double-digit” growth in 2024 and was the fastest-growing airline in the country.

Privately held Akasa ends in $Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2024 was Rs 3,144.4 billion, a 4-fold increase over the previous year $According to financial data submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, there was an increase of Rs 778 crore over the previous year. However, its losses widened to $744.53 Crore for the year ended March 2023 $1,670 crore last year.

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Dube said the country’s two newest airports – Navi Mumbai International and Noida – should help improve its profitability. The two airports are expected to be operational this year.

“Our plan is to work closely with these two airports to launch multiple flights from India’s two newest airports in the next financial year. Currently, we cannot disclose how many flights and at what time due to licensing, schedules, network planning , approval plans are ongoing and no specifics can be provided other than that a large number of flights are expected to depart from these airports in the next financial year,” Dube said.

Alcazar will benefit from the new airport. With steady aircraft traffic, airlines can gain first-mover advantage by not having flight slots at major airports to cities they currently don’t fly to.

New aircraft delivery

Akasa Air has a fleet of 26 Boeing 737 MAX narrow-body aircraft, with the 27th aircraft expected to join the fleet soon. The airline has ordered more than 200 Boeing MAX aircraft. Like other airlines around the world, the company’s aircraft deliveries are slowing. However, the airline appears confident in its delivery plans.

“We have stopped providing guidance on fleet entry; everyone is aware of Boeing’s issues with slower deliveries. Boeing has been and will continue to be a very good partner for Akasa. We are in advanced discussions on pending deliveries,” We have a delivery plan that meets our expectations,” Dube said.

Civil Aviation Authority Obstacles

Over the past few months, Alkasa Air has received numerous notifications from the civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Recently, a number of Alkasa pilots wrote to regulators highlighting alleged lapses.

“Any note or email was written anonymously; we have no reason to say it was even written by an Akasa employee. We surveyed the pilots and all other employees; we are pleased with the results of the satisfaction survey,” Dube said.

“We have 775 active flying pilots; there is no over-recruitment as we follow an established recruitment pattern that is in line with industry standards,” he added.

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the airline carried 7.381 million domestic passengers in 2024, occupying the third largest market share, accounting for 4.6%. Dube told Mint The airline is not pursuing a specific market share; instead, it aims to increase volume and ultimately its market share.