AirAsia India on course to breakeven

No-frills carrier AirAsia India is looking to break even by this December or early next year, its MD and CEO Amar Abrol has said.

The Bengaluru-based budget carrier will be completing four years this June.

Accordingly, it plans to triple its head count to over 4,800 by 2020 from 1,612 in 2017, as it seeks to spread wings to international skies, besides expanding domestic operations.

"In 2017, we had 1,612 employees, which we plan to take to 2,569 this year and 3,684 in the subsequent year. By 2020, we expect to have 4,834 people working for us," Abrol said.

He said that most of this hiring will be made for pilots, cabin crew, and ground operations, which account for almost 95% of the total workforce.

"There will not be much hiring in the back office or at the headquarters, or in the strategy section, but largely it will be for aircraft-related functions," Abrol added.

According to him, the airline is also likely to double its passenger traffic to eight million this year, from around four million in 2017. "We expect this number to go to 12 million in 2019 and by 2020, we hope to fly 15 million," he added.

AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes has already announced a public float for the India JV, wherein his group control 49%.