Mumbai: India’s ace stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is planning to have 70 aircraft for his upcoming ultra-low cost airline Akasa Air. In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday, Jhunjhunwala expressed confidence that the new airline will have these 70 aircraft within four years of establishment as more people will travel by air in the coming days.
“The ultra-low cost airline will be called Akasa Air and the team, which includes a former senior executive of Delta Air Lines Inc., is looking at planes that can carry 180 passengers,” said Jhunjhunwala during the interview. I’m very, very bullish on India’s aviation sector in terms of demand,” he added.
According to a report by news agency Bloomberg, the investor is considering investing USD 35 million (about Rs 260 crore) and would own 40 per cent of the carrier. He also hoped that the upcoming airline will get a no-objection certificate from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation in the next 15 days. The portfolio of Jhunjhunwala, who is also known India’s Warren Buffett, is closely watched by the stock market participants.
He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and manages the asset firm Rare Enterprises. According to stock market experts, he buys stocks mostly in the finance, technology, retail, and pharma sectors. As per data by Trendlyne, Jhunjhunwala publicly holds 36 stocks with a net worth of over Rs 18,867 crore.
