Major rejig in management team of AirAsia India

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 a release.

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 also announced the appointment Vikram Raymund as the technical pilot, Nagesh Muniswamy as the recruitment pilot and Sambasivam Srinivasan as the chief pilot (training and standards).

The airline 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, AirAsia said.

"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 channeling 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 (49 per cent stake) and AirAsia Berhad (49 per cent). The rest of two per cent is held by the airline's board members S Ramadorai and R Venkataramanan.

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.