Jet Airways plans overhaul of its management structure; CEO, COO & senior execs to be recruited

MUMBAI: Jet Airways, which has seen a series of top-level exits after the entry of Etihad as a 24% investor in 2012, is planning an overhaul of its management structure, including the appointment of a new CEO.

A chief commercial officer and a chief operations officer will be among about a dozen senior executives to be hired, said four people aware of the matter.

Founder Naresh Goyal is playing an instrumental role in finding new people, according to executives and analysts. This shows that he is still taking major corporate decisions although Etihad has been having a big say in deciding where Jet flies, they said. Jet has also appointed a global headhunter to look for talent.

Taneja to Join as HR Head The first of the appointments is that of Rahul Taneja, who was heading human resources at the Essar Group. He will be joining Jet as HR chief on February 15, said the people cited above. Etihad chief James Hogan was also involved in his selection.

When contacted, a Jet spokesperson said the airline makes “announcements on new recruitments at the appropriate time.” He didn't elaborate. Adil Maila, HR group president at Essar, confirmed Taneja’s departure. Taneja was director of human resources at Dell International Services before joining Essar and is said to be experienced at reorganisation exercises.

Consolidation of the management structure is crucial to Jet’s efforts in regaining market leadership from IndiGo, said an expert, adding that the airline can embark on changes now that it’s on sounder footing. “With its balance sheet cleaned up considerably, bottom lines improving and fuel prices down, it can now make such key management decisions,” said the person.

Having been India’s number one carrier for decades, it lost the position to IndiGo in 2012. Tough competition, debt and losses from subsidiary JetLite eroded cash reserves and hurt earnings.

In the past year, Jet has absorbed the subsidiary, accounted for losses, cut costs and benefitted from lower fuel costs. The airline posted a net profit of Rs 87.5 crore in the July-September quarter and is expected to post better numbers in the October-December period when it announces them on February 6.

Sydney-based aviation consultant CAPA-Centre for Aviation expects it to post a net profit of more than Rs 650 crore in the year to March. Ahead of its earnings, the stock rose 7.82% on the BSE to close at Rs 570.85 on Friday. Taneja’s brief is to retain top management and nurture internal talent. Cramer Ball exited as CEO in December to join Alitalia, also majority owned by Etihad.

His exit, the ninth senior-level departure since 2012 and the third by a CEO, was attributed to family reasons. Before that Nikos Kardassis had quit immediately after Etihad came on board. This was followed by the departure of KG Vishwanath, vice president, commercial strategy and investor relations, and Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer.

After this came the departures of the next CEO Gary Toomey, chief strategy and planning officer Abdulrahman Albusaidy and head of cargo Mohammad Ali El Ariss. Subsequently, acting CEO Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan and chief operating officer Subodh Karnik also quit.