Skip to main content

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala eyes 70 aircraft in 4 years

 To invest Rs 260 crore for a 40% stake in low-cost airline

Markets may correct in the short term. But in a bull market the correction is always sharp, swift and short-lived: Rakesh Jhunjunwala

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwa­la is investing over Rs 260 crore for a 40 per cent stake in a low-cost airline promoted by Vinay Dube, Jet Airways’ former chief executive officer. Dube has put in place a team of senior executives in commercial, engineering and finance roles, and negotiations are underway with both Airbus and Boeing for an aircraft order. The proposed airline christened ‘Akasa Air’ is scheduled to start next summer and have 70 aircraft in four years.

Jhunjhunwala has already put in Rs 15 crore in the venture. The infusion was made earlier in the month and unsecured convertible debentures were allotted to his wife Rekha. Regulatory filings show that debentures would be compulsorily converted into equity shares of the airline immediately upon receipt of investment of Rs 247.5 crore from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala or his affiliates in the equity shares of the company within an agreed period. Jhunjhunwala hopes that the proposed airline will receive the initial NOC in 15 days, he told Bloomberg television. “For the culture of a company to be frugal, you’ve to start off fresh. I am very bullish on India’s aviation sector demand,” Jhunjhunwala said.

While demand for air travel has hit globally, India’s aviation industry is at greater risk of delayed recovery. That’s not deterring Jhunjhunwala. “I thi­nk some of the incremental pla­­­yers may not recover,” he said. Dube has roped in many of his former colleagues from Jet Airways and GoAir, where he served as CEO. Senior executives on board include Anand Srinivasan (chief information officer), Praveen Iyer (chief commercial officer), Bhavin Joshi (senior vice-president-finance and leasing) and Neelu Khatri (VP–government affairs). Belson Coutinho and Adam Voss, who headed marketing and engineering in Jet, are part of the initial team. “We are working with the aviation ministry to ensure we are compliant with all requirements and hope the NOC will be granted soon,” said Dube, director and CEO of the new airline.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Balesh Sharma, who will be the CEO of Vodafone-Idea merged entity

United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group have appointed Balesh Sharma as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the merged entity to be created as the local units of the two telecom majors come together for the India market. The appointment of Sharma has not come as a surprise to Vodafone employees, who have seen him taking control of the day-to-day functions of the company over the past year as its chief operating officer (COO). According to several employees of the company, over the past year or so, Sharma was the man responsible for running the company, with Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood taking a backseat for routine activities. When everybody was guessing about the CEO of the new entity, there were a few people in Vodafone who were sure about Sharma taking the reins of the new company. Sharma, having worked in different positions for over 25 years, has been a Vodafone veteran.He was specially called to India in April 2017 as COO from the Czech Republic. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best Unconventional Workout and Sporting Activities for Summer

In summers, depending upon conditions and circumstances one can incorporate both outdoor  and indoor activities in their training schedule.   Summer is the season of holidays, picnics, outings and beaches. With travel and binge eating proper workout becomes that much more essential in summers. But with heat and the sun outdoors, an individual has to balance his indoor and outdoor activities to get a fulfilling workout. In summers, depending upon conditions and circumstances one can incorporate both outdoor and indoor activities in their training schedule. Mentioned below are some of the best physical and sporting activities that one can use as a workout to stay fit in the summer season. Beach Sports - If in summers one is going to spend much time on beaches or at a beach destination then one may use beach sporting activities such as beach rugby, beach soccer, beach tennis and beach volleyball to stay fit. All of these sporting activities on sand provide a ...
Post a Comment
Read more