Akasa Air gets air operator certificate from DGCA; to take off by July-end

Billionaire investor Rakesh Juhunjhunwala-owned Akasa Air has been cleared for take-off. The no-frills airline received its air operator certificate (AOC) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday. The airline will start its operations from the end of July.

The grant of the AOC is the final step of a comprehensive process laid down by the DGCA. The airline inducted its first Boeing 737 Max aircraft on June 21. It plans to start its service, connecting metro cities with tier II and III cities, after adding its second aircraft. The airline hopes to have 18 aircrafts by the end of financial year (FY) 2023.

“We now look forward to opening our flights for sale, leading to the start of commercial operations by late-July. This will begin our journey towards building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” the Akasa air’s founder and CEO, Vinay Dube said in a statement.

Dube, who served as the CEO of Jet Airways, teamed up with his former colleagues and, IndiGo’s former president Aditya Ghosh to launch the airline.