By Abhijith Ganapavaram
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s Akasa Air aims to go public in the next two to five years and plans to restart hiring pilots in the second half of next year, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Loss-making Akasa, India’s third largest airline, has not had enough work for pilots due to delayed deliveries from Boeing, as the planemaker faced regulatory scrutiny and the effects of a seven-week workers’ strike.
Reuters has reported that the airline’s executives have privately expressed frustration over Boeing’s delays.
“In the next 60 days, 100% of our pilots will start accruing hours, meaning they’ll be in the cockpit,” Akasa CEO Vinay Dube told Reuters on the sidelines of an Aviation India event, without providing details.
He added that he did not see any need to raise capital before an IPO, having raised an undisclosed sum earlier this year.
“Our next phase should be an IPO in a two to five year time horizon,” he told an audience, when asked about the airline’s future plans. He did not say where the company planned to list.
Dube also pushed back on suggestions that Akasa’s expansion plans were behind schedule due to jet delivery delays.
“I am extremely thrilled that we’ve got 30 aircraft …. We should have been exactly where we are today,” he told the audience. He declined to say how many aircraft Akasa expected to receive in total this year and in the coming years.
Its executives have previously suggested that Akasa would have roughly 54 planes by October 2026, Reuters has reported. The airline had earlier estimated it would have 72 by March 2027.
(Reporting by Abhijith GanapavaramEditing by Mark Potter)
