Three senior executives resign from Akasa Air amid leadership churn

Akasa Air, the low-cost Indian carrier launched in August 2022, is witnessing a churn in its senior leadership, with one executive already exiting the firm to join Air India earlier this month, and two others currently serving notice period after resigning, Business Standard has learnt.

 

Rishabh Dev, head of long-term operations, strategy, excellence and planning, is among those stepping down. Dev joined Akasa Air shortly after its launch and was head of strategy in the office of chief executive officer. Prior to Akasa, he worked with Adani Airports as assistant general manager for growth and strategy from January 2021 to June 2023.

 

While speaking to Business Standard, Dev said: “I led the long-term planning for Akasa, which spanned across all the operating departments. The team scaled from one member in 2023 to a 15 plus in 2025. As an employer and a company, Akasa is right there at the top and is going to be the strong challenger in Indian skies in years to come. The team itself has strong leadership and will continue to deliver significant value for Akasa in coming years.”

 

“My reason for separation is my own entrepreneurial journey where I am building AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine intelligence) products within aviation, leveraging my decade-old experience in this space across airlines, airports and the associated ecosystem. The future is exciting and unlimited. More on this shortly in due course,” he added. 

 

Another senior executive to exit the airline is Amol Mane — vice-president of Aircraft Acquisition and Leasing.  He joined Akasa Air after working with IndiGo between March 2019 and 2022 as assistant vice-president for aircraft acquisition and financing. At Akasa, he managed the airline’s aircraft leasing and acquisition portfolio. Mane directed queries regarding his resignation to the firm’s corporate communications department.

 

Vineet Mishra, deputy general manager for catering, who joined Akasa Air in November 2021, has already left the airline and joined Air India earlier this month. Mishra had over four years of prior experience managing catering at Go First. He did not respond to the newspaper’s queries regarding his resignation.

 

Akasa Air did not respond to queries sent by the newspaper.

 

Akasa Air’s growth ambitions have been challenged in the last one year by delays in the delivery of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The airline placed an order for 226 planes but currently operates only 28 jets. Between June 2022 and June 2024, the airline added 24 planes in its fleet. In the last one year, the American planemaker has delivered just four more planes to Akasa Air. The slow pace of deliveries has been attributed to several factors, including a January 2024 incident involving a mid-air cabin panel blowout and a seven-week strike at Boeing’s production facilities. These disruptions have affected not just Akasa but many airlines worldwide awaiting Boeing aircraft.

 

Due to these delays, Akasa Air has struggled to expand its fleet as planned. It had in 2023 projected a fleet size of 72 aircraft by March 2027.

 

This shortfall has also led to a surplus of trained pilots within the airline.