Akasa Air Strengthens Brand Leadership with Aditi Roy as Comms and CSR Head

Introduction

Building a brand from scratch in one of India's most competitive and scrutinised sectors is no small task. Akasa Air — the country's youngest commercial airline — has been doing exactly that since its launch, and it just made a significant investment in the team responsible for telling that story. The airline has appointed Aditi Roy as Head of Corporate Communications and CSR, bringing in a professional with nearly two decades of experience spanning pharma, healthcare advocacy, and strategic communications. This appointment signals that Akasa is thinking seriously about its long-term brand reputation — not just its route map. Here's why it matters.

What Just Happened

Aditi Roy has joined Akasa Air as Head of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, marking a pivotal career transition after a nine-year tenure at Novartis India. At Novartis, she most recently served as Associate Director — External Engagement, Pharma Communications and Patient Engagement, where she led communications strategy, patient advocacy, and multi-stakeholder engagement across one of the world's largest pharmaceutical organisations.

Roy announced her move on LinkedIn, describing the transition as moving from an organisation with a remarkable legacy to one that is actively building its own — a line that captures both her sentiment and the broader opportunity at Akasa Air.

Prior to her decade-long stint in pharma, Roy built her communications foundation across a strong roster of agencies and consultancies — including SPAG Asia, Fleishman-Hillard, Text 100, K2 Communications, and MullenLowe Lintas Group — giving her exposure to brand communications, PR strategy, and integrated marketing across multiple industries.

In her new role, Roy will lead Akasa Air's corporate communications and CSR functions as the airline continues to scale its operations and deepen its presence in the Indian aviation market.

What This Means for Your Brand

Akasa Air's decision to bring in a communications leader with a healthcare and advocacy background — rather than a traditional aviation or consumer PR profile — is a deliberate and interesting strategic choice.

Here's the thinking behind it. Aviation in India is at an inflection point. With IndiGo dominating market share and Air India undergoing a high-profile transformation under the Tata Group, Akasa needs to carve out a distinct brand identity — one that goes beyond low fares and new aircraft. That requires a communications leader who understands nuance, stakeholder complexity, and long-term narrative building. Roy's background in patient advocacy and pharma communications — where every message is scrutinised and trust is currency — is precisely that kind of training.

For marketers watching India's aviation sector, this appointment also signals a maturing of Akasa's brand strategy. Early-stage airlines typically focus on performance marketing and route announcements. Hiring a dedicated Head of Corporate Communications and CSR suggests Akasa is now thinking about reputation management, institutional credibility, and social impact — the hallmarks of a brand building for the long term.

The contrarian perspective? CSR in Indian aviation remains largely underdeveloped and underreported. Whether Roy can build a genuine CSR narrative for Akasa — rather than a checkbox exercise — will be the real test of this appointment's impact.

Expert Take

India's aviation sector is undergoing its most dramatic transformation in years. Passenger traffic at Indian airports crossed 370 million in FY2024-25, and the sector is projected to become the third-largest aviation market globally within this decade. In this environment, airline brand perception is shaped not just by on-time performance and pricing, but increasingly by corporate values, sustainability commitments, and crisis communication capability.

Aditi Roy's hiring reflects a broader trend across Indian corporations — the elevation of communications as a strategic board-level function rather than a support role. Her agency background across Fleishman-Hillard and MullenLowe Lintas gives her fluency in both earned media and integrated brand strategy, while her Novartis tenure adds the stakeholder management depth that complex regulated industries demand. For Akasa, this is a well-rounded profile for a brand at a critical growth stage.

The brands.in Perspective

Akasa Air has always positioned itself as a different kind of Indian airline — values-led, people-first, and built for the long haul. Hiring Aditi Roy, someone who spent nearly a decade navigating the trust-intensive world of global pharma communications, is entirely consistent with that positioning. What makes this interesting from a brand strategy standpoint is the signal it sends internally as much as externally — that Akasa considers its reputation and social responsibility to be core business functions, not afterthoughts. brands.in believes that in a market where airline loyalty is fragile and consumer expectations are rising fast, this kind of investment in communications leadership could become a genuine competitive advantage.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• Akasa Air appoints Aditi Roy as Head of Corporate Communications and CSR
• Roy brings nearly two decades of experience across pharma, healthcare, and PR agencies
• She transitions after a nine-year tenure as Associate Director at Novartis India
• Prior agency experience spans Fleishman-Hillard, MullenLowe Lintas, and Text 100
• Appointment signals Akasa's shift toward long-term reputation and CSR-led brand building

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is Aditi Roy and what is her professional background? Aditi Roy is the newly appointed Head of Corporate Communications and CSR at Akasa Air. She brings nearly two decades of experience across pharmaceutical communications, patient advocacy, and PR agencies including Fleishman-Hillard, MullenLowe Lintas Group, and Text 100, along with nine years at Novartis India.

Q: What will Aditi Roy's role at Akasa Air involve? Roy will lead Akasa Air's corporate communications strategy and CSR initiatives. Her mandate covers media relations, stakeholder engagement, reputation management, and building the airline's social responsibility narrative as it continues to grow its network across India.

Q: Why is this appointment significant for India's aviation sector? It reflects a broader shift in how Indian airlines are approaching brand building. Hiring a communications specialist with deep stakeholder and advocacy experience signals that Akasa Air is investing in long-term reputation management — a critical differentiator in a sector where consumer trust and brand perception directly influence loyalty and growth.

Closing

In a sector where brand loyalty is hard-won and easily lost, the story an airline chooses to tell about itself matters enormously. With Aditi Roy now leading that story at Akasa Air, the question worth asking is — can a young Indian airline build the kind of brand trust that typically takes decades to earn? We'd love to hear your perspective in the comments. And if you want daily insights on brand leadership, marketing strategy, and communications across India's most dynamic sectors, follow brands.in — your sharpest source for brand intelligence.