Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is planning on having 70 aircraft within four years for a new airline that he wants to set up in India on optimism that more people will travel by air. 

Mr Jhunjhunwala, who is considering investing $35 million and would own 40 per cent of the carrier, expected to get a no-objection certificate from the aviation ministry in the next 15 days, he said in aBloomberg Television interview on Wednesday. The ultra-low-cost airline would be called Akasa Air, and the team, which includes a former senior executive of Delta Air Lines, was looking at planes that could carry 180 passengers, he said. 

It’s a bold bet by Mr Jhunjhunwala, who’s known locally as India’s Warren Buffett, in a market that has seen some airlines collapse in the face of intense fare wars and high costs. Still, what was once the world’s fastest-growing aviation market holds an allure and Mr Jhunjhunwala is looking at opportunities to woo flyers with a brand-new carrier offering low fares. 

“For the culture of a company to be frugal, you’ve to start off fresh,” Mr Jhunjhunwala said, adding: “I’m very, very bullish on India’s aviation sector in terms of demand.” 

Even before the pandemic, airlines in India were struggling. Kingfisher Airlines, once the country’s second-largest domestic carrier, had ended operations in 2012, and Jet Airways India, which was recently approved to fly again, had collapsed in 2019. 

While demand for air travel has been hit globally, India’s aviation industry is at greater risk of delayed recovery as the threat of a third wave of infections looms. Airlines are feeling the impact. 

That’s not deterring Mr Jhunjhunwala, who according to the Forbes has an estimated net worth of about $4.6 billion. “I think some of the increment players may not recover,” he said adding: “I’ve got some of the best airline people in the world as my partners.”