Spice Route Legal's aviation department, praised by clients for its ‘domain fluency, client-centric agility, and integrated innovation,’ is well-equipped to handle transactional, regulatory, and compliance mandates, both domestically and internationally. With considerable experience advising on high-profile and high-value matters, the group has amassed a growing client roster which consists of notable aviation, technology, and tourism businesses seeking assistance with restructurings, regulatory advice, and in-flight services transactions. At the helm of the department is Aadya Misra, who specialises in commercial contracts, flight safety, and operational agreements, as well as ground handling and ground support agreements, joint ventures, and cybersecurity issues. She is supported by regulatory expert Ankita Hariramani, financial services authority Soumitra Ponkshe, and Ada Shaharbanu, who focuses on aviation technology.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Accolades
Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Spice Route Legal’s aviation practice stands out for three core reasons: domain fluency, client-centric agility, and integrated innovation.'
- 'Spice Route’s team isn’t just versed in contracts and compliance; they live and breathe aerospace and defence. Many of their lawyers have previously worked in regulatory bodies or in-house with OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. That technical fluency means they instantly grasp the nuances of certification pathways for eVTOLs, UAV export controls, and defence offsets.'
- 'What potential clients most appreciate is their responsiveness and flexibility. Whether it was drafting our non-disclosure agreements with academic partners or structuring phased milestone payments in our manufacturing MoU, Spice Route Legal tailored fee arrangements, often fixed-fee for defined workstreams, to align with our cashflow realities.'
- 'Unlike traditional firms that silo lawyers by practice area, Spice Route blends legal, technical and commercial talent. They’ve brought in aerospace engineers to vet technical appendices in our share-purchase agreements and built a virtual data-room that links automatically to our engineering PLM system, so document versions stay in sync.'
- 'Mathew Chacko’s rare combination of technology-law mastery and financial-services insight means he not only drafts bullet-proof IP and data-protection frameworks for our eVTOL software, but also aligns them with global fintech standards. His ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, scalable agreements has saved us countless hours and given investors full confidence in our compliance posture.'
- 'Harsh Kumra stands out for his deep understanding of aviation-specific deal structures. He crafts our investor term sheets, supply-chain agreements and milestone-based payment plans with surgical precision, always calibrated to our cash-flow realities. His responsiveness and his willingness to hop on design-review calls ensure legal never becomes our bottleneck.'
Key clients
- Air India
- Air India Express
- Asia Jets
- CamJets
- India Jets
- Juspay
- SenseHawk Technologies
- Khageshvara Aviation Technology
- Ideaforge
- Verteil Technologies
Work highlights
Advising Air India on establishing in-flight connectivity services.
Assisted Air India with modernising its cargo operations by advising on regulatory alignment, digitalising delivery processes, and structuring key partnerships with tech platforms like SmartKargo and Hans Infomatic to enhance efficiency and compliance.
Assisted Air India with a collaboration with SITA for the implementation of WorldTracer – the world's exclusive fully global baggage tracing and matching system.
Practice head
Aadya Misra
Other key lawyers
Ankita Hariramani; Soumitra Ponkshe; Ada Shaharbanu; Mathew Chacko; Harsh Kumra; Deval Garg; Ruchika Jha