Praveen Iyer, a co-founder and chief commercial officer of Akasa Air, has quit the airline, in the second high-profile exit in less than three years of operations. He was also a member of the executive committee of the company.
“Praveen has been instrumental in shaping not just Akasa’s commercial vision but the airline itself…,” Vinay Dube, founder and chief executive officer at Akasa Air, said in a statement. “We are grateful for his leadership, clarity of thought, and long-term perspective during the formative years of the airline.”
Anand Srinivasan, another co-founder and chief information officer, has taken charge as the new chief commercial officer. Akasa Air is now on the lookout for a new chief information officer. The IT function, in the meanwhile, will report to Chief Financial Officer Ankur Goel.
“Anand has been one of the early architects of Akasa…,” Dube went on to say. “His ability to combine commercial strategy with a tech-first mindset is extremely exciting as we enter our next phase of growth and complexity.”
The development comes a day after an Akasa Air spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that GST officers had visited the offices of the airline as part of a “business verification process”.
Backed by the family of the late billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Akasa Air was started by a clutch of aviation industry leaders including former Go First and Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube and former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh.
The founding team also included:
- Praveen Iyer: The chief commercial officer who was formerly with Jet Airways and Qatar Airways.
- Anand Srinivasan: The chief information officer, who was formerly with Go First.
- Belson Coutinho: The chief marketing officer, who was formerly a senior executive at Jet Airways.
- Bhavin Joshi: The Senior VP – Strategy, who was formerly with PwC and Jet Airways.
- Neelu Khatri: A former executive who headed international operations and corporate affairs. She exited last year.
Other founding team members were Sanjay Dube and Niraj Dube, who were part of initial conceptualisation stage only.
The airline currently enjoys a market share of 5% in India’s aviation industry.