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Akasa Air Kick-Starts Commercial Flight

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Akasa Air Kick-Starts Commercial Flight
08 Aug 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

Minister of civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday inaugurated Akasa Air's commercial flight that took off from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The airline, which is backed by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Aditya Ghosh, and Vinay Dube, got its air operator certification at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on July 7.

Jhujhunwala, who was in the Mumbai airport, said "I must express my gratitude to you (Scindia) for the fact that people claim that India has a poor bureaucracy. But the level of cooperation that the civil aviation ministry has provided us is amazing." There is no other place in the world where an airline has been designed and conceived in the span of one year, he added.

"Normally children are born in nine months. We have taken 12 months. This wouldn't be possible without the support of the civil aviation ministry," he said. After nearly ejecting the flight Scindia declared that this was the beginning of a "new day" for the civil aviation industry in India in many ways. "The aviation industry around the globe has had a difficult time in the past couple of decades. Numerous black swan incidents have changed the course of the industry worldwide," he said.

In India, it was a market that witnessed a flood of new players, new entrepreneurs, and fresh ideas. In the last 10 years it has seen the demise of many innovative airlines. "Therefore I believe this is a new era in numerous ways for our industry of India," he said. Scindia said that his "democratization" of the aviation industry to the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Earlier the industry was viewed as a place for the elite. His vision, his dream -- that someone wearing slippers could fly on a plane has led to the transformation of this industry over the past eight years, in terms of accessibility, affordability, and inclusion unlike anything we've experienced prior to," the aviation minister said.

"In this new context, I'd like to warmly welcome Akasa Air," he declared. Alongside the foundations of railway and road transport, aviation will be the mainstay of transport in India the country, he added. "Akasa is, too, put a huge program in motion. The company plans to increase its fleet to 72 aircraft within the coming five decades ... It is my hope that I am certain that every region of India will be connected with Akasa's flights," he added.

The minister further said "I believe the only word that accurately describes him in the context of his lifespan is "innovation." And we've seen this in our current role and in the past." Akasa is expected to commence operations on the Bengaluru-Kochi route Chennai-Mumbai route, Bengaluru, and Mumbai routes beginning on August 13, August 19, and 15 September respectively.

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