From the cockpit: Meet Vinay Dube, co-founder and CEO of Akasa Air

Avid golfer and tea aficionado, Dube speaks to Aneesh Phadnis about food, family and flights

Soft-spoken and unassuming, Vinay Dube is not your typical Indian airline owner. A first-generation entrepreneur, he worked in airlines in the US and India before donning the promoter’s hat this year.

Akasa Air, the airline he founded with his former Jet Airways colleagues, made its maiden flight on August 7 this year. Its launch was heralded by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as “a new dawn” for Indian aviation. The mood was cheerful and optimistic. But tragedy struck just a week later with the death of the airline’s key investor, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

It must have been a huge setback for the airline that had just got its wings, I ask Dube as we meet for lunch by the poolside at Urmi Estate in Lower Parel, Mumbai. The 45-storey building has diverse tenants, including advertising and broadcasting firms, a consulate, visa offices and a tourism board. Akasa Air moved in there last Diwali and now occupies an entire floor.

“It was very emotional for us on a personal level. Mr Jhunjhunwala was extremely instrumental in the launch of Akasa,” Dube says. “He was not hands-on with the day-to-day running of the airline, but the two things he was passionate about were customer experience and employee wellbeing.”

The Jhunjhunwala family, he adds, continues to remain invested in the airline. “The family is just as supportive today as it was earlier.”

Dube and his colleagues are now busy charting out expansion plans for the airline. From four flights on day one, the daily frequency has increased to 56.

Our conversation is interrupted by the arrival of lunch. And what do we have? A taste of Akasa – snacks the airline offers on board its flights.

“Our hot chocolate and rolls have become popular,” says Dube. “Passengers also like our seasonal menus, and we are curating them based on feedback.”

Dube opts for Vietnamese rice paper rolls with shredded chicken served with a sweet chilli dip. I go for a kathi roll filled with roasted red capsicum and cottage cheese.

“I like food from almost every part of the world,” he says. But he’s particularly fond of teas – especially Chinese and Japanese. While transiting via Tokyo recently, he made it a point to buy three-and-a-half kilograms of Japanese tea.

His other interest is golf, and you can find him occasionally teeing off at the Willingdon Sports Club in Mumbai. “But the sport I’m really passionate about is rugby. You could call me a diehard rugby fan,” he says.

Son of a shipping industry executive, Dube grew up in Mumbai and studied at the famed Cathedral and John Connon School. At 16, he moved to the UK for a baccalaureate course. Thereafter, he studied economics and mathematics, and followed it up with a master of science (MS) in operations research from the US.

Was he keen on aviation right from childhood? “Zero chance,” he replies emphatically. “The only reason I got into it was because I got a job in aviation,” he says. After he completed his education, Dube was hired by American Airlines in 1990. He later worked with Delta Airlines before joining Jet Airways in 2017. After the airline’s collapse in 2019, he moved to GoAir (now Go First) as its chief executive officer (CEO).

So when did the idea of launching a new airline occur to him? He remembers the date vividly: “August 15, 2020.” That was two days after he resigned from GoAir. He says he first asked his wife and brothers if they would back him if he started his own venture. With them on board, he took the plunge.  

Dube picks up a masala peas and gruyere tartlet as he narrates the story of building the airline.

“During the start-up phase, the first questions were: who do you want to build this airline with? What will be its business model?” So he called up his former Jet colleagues – Belson Coutinho, Bhavin Joshi, Praveen Iyer and a few others and asked them to join the start-up. “There is no employee number one. Just a set of co-founders together. None of us see ourselves as the first or second,” Dube asserts.

After figuring out the founding team and developing a business plan, the next tracks were recruiting, executing key elements of the business plan like OEM contracts, securing approvals from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and raising funds. “All of it sounds easy, but we had some good days and some bad ones. Thankfully, it all came together.”

Akasa has travelled some distance from its early days.

“We have got 11 Boeing 737 Max aircraft already and will receive the 12th by December-end. We will increase our daily flights to 72-75,” he says. Flights to Visakhapatnam began earlier this week (December 10) and those to Lucknow will take off from December 25.

The airline will receive 18 aircraft by March-end 2023 and will add more destinations. International services, too, will be launched next year as the airline’s fleet crosses 20 aircraft.

Desserts arrive. I settle for a baked yoghurt and seasonal cut fruit, while Dube decides to go with rasmalai cheesecake. “Like my father, I am developing a sweet tooth as I am growing older,” says the 55-year-old.

What does he think about the current chaos at airports, with terminals congested, passengers missing their flights and losing their patience, and the government cracking the whip? A series of meetings is being held, action plans are being prepared and instructions are being issued to airports and airlines. Airlines have been asked to keep their check-in counters fully manned.

Dube sees the congestion as a “temporary” problem, with the government and airports working to fix it. “Our airport counters are fully staffed. That is not an issue for us,” he says.

Akasa Air is one of only two Indian airlines that allow pets, such as domesticated cats and dogs, inside the passenger cabin – the other is Air India. The response to the service, which was introduced on November 1, has been “fantastic,” says Dube, and the airline has so far received 85 bookings for pets.

Akasa is also big on sustainability initiatives – its crew uniforms are made from recycled material and the packaging for its on-board meals is sourced from sustainably grown crops. On its launch day, the airline also did not opt for the customary water cannon salute for its first arrival in Ahmedabad.

Sustainability practices are being followed at the Akasa office, too, Dube says. Plastic water bottles are a no-no, except when receiving foreign guests. Printing paper is avoided. Dube himself avoids using tissue paper and instead brings towels from home.

He’s trying to build an Akasa culture with the focus on sustainability, cost-consciousness, employee-centric practices and service. “We are far from having achieved all this but that’s our effort,” he says. “If you don’t build it into the culture, it’s not sustainable.”