Chandilya is now AirAsia India's MD, too

AirAsia India has appointed Mittu Chandilya as its managing director (MD), which will be in addition to his current chief executive officer (CEO) role. Chandilya, who has been serving as CEO since the inception of the no-frills airline, would now be a part of the board.

The carrier said its board had appointed Chandilya as MD and the first full-time independent executive director. The move is part of a major management restructuring exercise being undertaken at the low cost carrier.

"He has managed to propel the airline forward in terms of its scale of operations and turn every challenge into an opportunity by building an agile and secure operations structure," AirAsia India's Chairman S Ramadorai said.

The entity is a three-way joint venture in which AirAsia Berhard owns 49 per cent, Tata Sons has 30 per cent and the rest is with Arun Bhatia's Telestra Tradeplace. AirAsia's Group CEO Tony Fernandes said Chandilya has done an exemplary job leading AirAsia India in a market where it has been challenged with headwinds at every turn.

"There is tremendous opportunity for growth and we are in an excellent position to capitalise on the opportunity with our strong brand and value proposition. We are not ones to give up easily...," Fernandes noted.

Currently, Fernandes,Ramadorai, Bharat Vasani, R Venkataramanan and Arun Bhatia are on AirAsia India's board.

In the three months ended March 2015, AirAsia India posted a loss of Rs 19 crore while revenues stood at Rs 74.39 crore.

The airline had carried nearly 2,38,000 passengers contributing a revenue of Rs 3,131 per passenger during the March quarter. Ancillary income per passenger was at Rs 248 while the seat load factor was 79 per cent.