Praveen Iyer: Devising Business Strategy And Driving Revenue For Sustainable And Affordable Air Travel
Praveen Iyer
Founder & CCO
Praveen Iyer is a seasoned business professional who boasts over 2 decades of experience across different avenues of aviation. He has held several leadership positions covering Global Operations in fast paced and dynamic consumer focused businesses.
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Praveen talks about the motivation and plans laid ahead for
Akasa Air.
Take us through your educational and professional background that led you to establish Akasa Air.
Post completing MBA, I started off my career with McDonald’s (India), then moved to Jet Airways. Working with a world class airline in various roles, I realized that aviation is where my interests lie. Post the (unfortunate) closure of Jet Airways, I took up leadership roles in VFS Global and then Go Air.
Meanwhile, I was bitten by the entrepreneur bug and started my Consulting firm(currently managed by professionals). Vinay Dube (Founder and CEO, Akasa Air) and I had also been talking informally of his plans of launching a Low-Cost airline in India. He had already started work on the same and he approached me and a few other like minded professionals to come together to work towards building a green and affordable airline that democratizes air travel.
Right from working on the business plan, engaging with OEMs, making investor presentations, to building the team, it has indeed been a memorable journey. From just a
dream on paper to actually see the arrival of our first aircraft; has only motivated us to soar higher. Our investors, service partners, and even good wishes from the general public have only motivated us to work on a product that will be affordable yet world class. We are eager to kick-start operations in August 2022 and provide a dependable choice to the Indian public.
Could you tell us about the unique services that is provided by Akasa Air that makes it stand out from the rest in the market?
As we begin operations, our brand promise is building an affordable airline which is dependable, warm, efficient, and reliable, with a core focus on customer service.
Our leadership team at Akasa Air brings in vast experience from global aviation and we will leverage this learning and experiences effectively.
Compared to current industry standards, we plan to adopt a more progressive approach in our use of technology. Enabling technology to provide a seamless experience to the customer right from booking a ticket on Akasa to how we service our customers during and after their travel with us. It also extends to monitoring and reducing wait times at airport check-in counters baggage management and much more.
Sustainability plays an important role in our lives and today’s passengers are increasingly seeking environmentally friendly options to travel. At Akasa, we are proud to be an environmentally progressive airline with the youngest and greenest fleet in Indian skies.
What has been your success mantra that constantly helps you arrive at positive outcomes?
Failures and mistakes have been instrumental in building me as a person. Over the years, I have realized passion is a game changer. When we are down, passion makes us get up and face challenges upfront.
Sustainability plays an important role in our lives and today’s passengers are increasingly seeking environmentally friendly options to travel. At Akasa, we are proud to be an environmentally progressive airline with the youngest and greenest fleet in Indian skies
Could you tell us about the unique services that is provided by Akasa Air that makes it stand out from the rest in the market?
As we begin operations, our brand promise is building an affordable airline which is dependable, warm, efficient, and reliable, with a core focus on customer service.
Our leadership team at Akasa Air brings in vast experience from global aviation and we will leverage this learning and experiences effectively.
Compared to current industry standards, we plan to adopt a more progressive approach in our use of technology. Enabling technology to provide a seamless experience to the customer right from booking a ticket on Akasa to how we service our customers during and after their travel with us. It also extends to monitoring and reducing wait times at airport check-in counters baggage management and much more.
Sustainability plays an important role in our lives and today’s passengers are increasingly seeking environmentally friendly options to travel. At Akasa, we are proud to be an environmentally progressive airline with the youngest and greenest fleet in Indian skies.
What has been your success mantra that constantly helps you arrive at positive outcomes?
Failures and mistakes have been instrumental in building me as a person. Over the years, I have realized passion is a game changer. When we are down, passion makes us get up and face challenges upfront.
Having gone through ups and downs professionally, my personal learning is that we need to evolve and not rest on our laurels.
To me, success is the sum total of self-belief, hard work, perseverance, working with the right people and of course a little bit of luck.
How do you plan to apply your understanding of this domain into Akasa Air?
As the CCO, I will drive the revenues of the airline and focus on building a network across metro-metro, tier 2 & 3 cities. Our online distribution strategy is bold and unique compared to the incumbents. We strongly believe that the trade, corporate partners and the industry needs a breath of fresh air and that is what we will be offering.
With state-of-the-art systems and technology, we will ensure that we adopt the best pricing and revenue management models and always offer the most affordable fares to our customers.
Based on your strong professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs in the same industry?
Building an airline is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work and perseverance and top it all the right investor. That said, entrepreneurs should not get carried away by other’s success or failures. Be true to your business plan and think long term. Short term valuation is not the end game. Honest business plans deserve funding. Unrealistic and unreasonable business plans will not be sustainable in the long term and is detrimental to the future of any enterprise.
I also believe that business management is all about running an enterprise efficiently with the right governance in place. Leadership is trickle down ethics, values are the foundation of a successful and a great organization.
Praveen Iyer, Founder & CCO, Akasa Air
Praveen Iyer is a business leader with career spanning 23 years. He has held several leadership positions covering Global Operations in fast paced and dynamic consumer focused businesses. Having worked both in India and overseas, he has grown revenues and contributed to increasing profitability and margins, while leading Corporate Planning & Strategy, Alliances & Partnerships, Pricing & Revenue Management, Cargo Sales and Ancillary Revenues.
Hobbies: Reading (Non-Fiction), Watching movies
Favourite Cuisine: Italian
Favourite Book: Good to Great by James C Collins
Favourite Travel Destination: London
To me, success is the sum total of self-belief, hard work, perseverance, working with the right people and of course a little bit of luck.
How do you plan to apply your understanding of this domain into Akasa Air?
As the CCO, I will drive the revenues of the airline and focus on building a network across metro-metro, tier 2 & 3 cities. Our online distribution strategy is bold and unique compared to the incumbents. We strongly believe that the trade, corporate partners and the industry needs a breath of fresh air and that is what we will be offering.
With state-of-the-art systems and technology, we will ensure that we adopt the best pricing and revenue management models and always offer the most affordable fares to our customers.
Based on your strong professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs in the same industry?
Building an airline is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work and perseverance and top it all the right investor. That said, entrepreneurs should not get carried away by other’s success or failures. Be true to your business plan and think long term. Short term valuation is not the end game. Honest business plans deserve funding. Unrealistic and unreasonable business plans will not be sustainable in the long term and is detrimental to the future of any enterprise.
I also believe that business management is all about running an enterprise efficiently with the right governance in place. Leadership is trickle down ethics, values are the foundation of a successful and a great organization.
Praveen Iyer, Founder & CCO, Akasa Air
Praveen Iyer is a business leader with career spanning 23 years. He has held several leadership positions covering Global Operations in fast paced and dynamic consumer focused businesses. Having worked both in India and overseas, he has grown revenues and contributed to increasing profitability and margins, while leading Corporate Planning & Strategy, Alliances & Partnerships, Pricing & Revenue Management, Cargo Sales and Ancillary Revenues.
Hobbies: Reading (Non-Fiction), Watching movies
Favourite Cuisine: Italian
Favourite Book: Good to Great by James C Collins
Favourite Travel Destination: London