'We will have 900 pilots & 41 aircraft by end of FY25'

The 15-month old, low-cost airline Akasa Air has moved on from the pilot upheaval it faced in July and is now on course to nearly double its pilot strength in the next 15 months. Co-founder and chief commercial officer, PRAVEEN IYER, in an exclusive interview with SWARAJ BAGGONKAR, says that the next phase of growth is going to be even stronger where the aircraft fleet strength gets doubled. Edited excerpts:

- SWARAJ BAGGONKAR

PRAVEEN IYER, CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, AKASA AIR

From 330 in April, Akasa's pilot strength grew to 450 in October. What is the current status?

Between August 7, 2022 to now, we have seen some unprecedented growth around the overall passenger numbers. We have enough in the pipeline, which will help us scale up from the present total of 20 aircraft to around 41 by April 2025. We are creating positions for pilots, cabin crew, engineers and other staff and we are more than happy the expansion is coming our way.

Can you put a number to the pilot strength that the airline has?

It has gone up more than 30% to 500 since April this s year. By the end of FY25, we expect it to go up to 900. Over 100 pilots will join us in the next two to three months itself.

Akasa was able to not just retain but expand the pilot pool in the face of strong competition. How did the airline do it?