Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is planning to enter India’s aviation sector by launching an ultra-low-cost airline.

In an interview to Bloomberg Television, he said the new airline will be called Akasa Air and he would invest $35 million in the venture. The aim is to have 70 aircraft over the next four years for the airline.

Jhunjhunwala said he would hold a 40 per cent stake in the carrier and he expects to receive an approval from the aviation ministry in the next 15 days.

The move comes at a time the aviation sector is adversely hit by the restrictions on travel during the pandemic.

However, even before Covid-19 struck, domestic airline companies were in a difficult situation.

Fuel is a large part of their costs and the carriers were unable to fully pass on any increase in prices to their customers.

Kingfisher Airlines stopped operations in 2012 and Jet Airways, which has been revived recently, has not been flying since 2019.