A few months back Akasa Air was facing challenges with its schedules with pilots. Now, the airline is back in growth mode, CEO Vinay Dube said after announcing mega order for 150 planes. 

Akasa Air’s CEO Vinay Dube spoke to businessline about the problems faced by the airline last year, plans to launch international flights, and the fresh mega order.

Excerpts:

Q

Akasa Air was forced to cancel flights last year following sudden resignation of pilots. What is the situation now?

We now have enough pilots to fly twice the number of aircraft in our existing fleet and we are excited to launch flights to new destinations like Ayodhya, Port Blair and others. The problem is behind us. We are back in the growth mode and happy that we can focus on expansion. 

Q

When will you launch international flights?

We are waiting for regulatory approvals from foreign governments. On business and operational side we are ready. We hope to fly overseas soon.

Q

What does the new order mean to Akasa? 

It defines the future in a very definitive manner and helps in next phase of growth. With the new order we have a path that allows us to scale beyond 200 aircraft. We can now say we are on path to be one of world’s 30 biggest airline by the turn of the decade.  

Q

Are you looking at different seat configuration? How many aircraft are you inducting this year?

Right now none. We will have single cabin aircraft. We think highly service oriented single class cabin service is the best business model for us.  

Q

Passengers complain airlines dont give correct information about flight delays. How is Akasa Air dealing with the issue? 

I think it is very important to be transparent to consumers and only way you can be transparent is by providing frontline staff the information they require. We focus on training and have SOPs in place for same.