AirAsia India rejigs management team

The airline has elevated Captain Manish Uppal as its director flight operations from his current role as head of training

In a major reshuffle in its management team, budget carrier AirAsia India on Friday announced a series of appointments, including that of heads of flight operations, legal and strategy and planning.

As part of the restructuring process, Manish Uppal has been elevated to the position of director of flight operations, while Praveen Sharma has been made the chief pilot (operations), AirAsia India said.

In his new role, Manish, who moved from the position of head of training and standards in the airline, will head the flight operations with improved communication, implement processes to streamline services, it said.

A team of experienced and capable pilots has been identified to support the flight operations chief in ensuring smooth operations in this expansion phase, Air Asia India said, adding these positions are in line with its philosophy of promoting internal talent and meeting regulatory requirements. The airline appointed Vikram Raymund as technical pilot, Nagesh Muniswamy as recruitment pilot and Sambasivam Srinivasan as the chief pilot (training and standards). It also made appointments to some other key positions. Anurag Jain has been appointed as the head of strategy and planning, while I R Srinivas has been brought to the position of head of the People Department.

Vinay Thakur will be the head of legal and Mahalakshmi S the new company secretary for the airline.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome these veterans on board. I am confident that the newly recruited all-stars will take our company to greater heights and work towards our promise of enabling every Indian to fly. The AirAsia team in India is ready to sculpt its growth story and is channelling all our energy towards further expansion,” AirAsia India Chief Executive Officer Amar Abrol said.

AirAsia India, which started operations in June, 2014, is co-owned by Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad, each holding 49 per cent, respectively. The rest two per cent is held by the airline’s board members S Ramadorai and R Venkataramanan.

AirAsia India recently inducted its seventh and eighth aircraft, and added Hyderabad as a new destination. It is hiring 30 expatriate pilots to cater to its expansion.

AirAsia India at present flies to 11 destinations with its two hubs in Bengaluru and New Delhi, covering Chandigarh, Jaipur, Guwahati, Imphal, Pune, Goa, Vizag, Kochi and Hyderabad.