Mittu Chandilya has been appointed Managing Director of AirAsia India, in addition to his role as Chief Executive Officer even as the airline struggles to remain afloat amid galloping operating costs and huge price wars.
For the quarter ending March this year, AAI had declared a loss of ₹19 crore even though it had said that it will break even by November 2014.
It has again reset its target to turning profitable during the second quarter of the current calendar year.
Chandilya, however, has received full support from his senior management for his role in steering the airline. AirAsia India Chairman S Ramadorai said Chandilya has managed to propel the airline forward in terms of its scale of operations and turn every challenge into an opportunity by building an agile and secure operations structure.
Chandilya will also be the first full-time independent executive director of the company.
Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia, said Chandilya has been able to negotiate through a market “where we have been challenged with headwinds at every turn. We are not the ones to give up easily and I know Mittu will continue to lead the charge as we move ahead in achieving our dream of changing Indian aviation.”