Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's New Airline To Use Stock Options To Lure Staff

Akasa is preparing to start flying in late May, is taking the unusual approach of granting company shares to a bigger pool of top employees, rather than a select group of senior executives.

Akasa, a new Indian airline backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, plans to offer stock options to attract staff, using a lure more often deployed by technology startups in its bid to gain a foothold in one of the world's most competitive air-travel markets.

The carrier, which is preparing to start flying in late May, is taking the unusual approach of granting company shares to a bigger pool of top employees, rather than a select group of senior executives, as the aviation industry globally suffers from a talent shortfall. Airlines have retrenched thousands of workers because of the pandemic and many pilots have quit, either taking early retirement or switching careers.

"We want to have an organization that's very tight knit in values, but diverse in experiences, genders, locations within India," Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube said in an interview. "We were saddened by the plight of employees through the pandemic, some of the bankruptcies that have taken place in Indian aviation, and we wanted to create homes for them where they are happy."

The degree to which Akasa plans to grant stock options for staff will be "far greater than most airlines in India and hopefully reminiscent of maybe some of the tech startups where they go fairly deep in the way they provide employee stock ownership plans," Dube said. There isn't a suggestion stock options would be given to air crew or regular pilots, however.