After Gulf carrier Etihad Airways bought 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, exodus of top level officials continue at Naresh Goyal-promoted airline. Jet Airways Chief financial officer and acting CEO Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan quit on Friday. He is the third top executive in the past year to part ways with the private airline in which Gulf Etihad Airways holds a 24 per cent stake.
“Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan, chief financial officer and acting chief executive of the company, has resigned from the services with effect from today,” Jet Airways said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company did not give a reason for the resignation, which comes less than four months after Gopalakrishnan took over additional responsibility as CEO following the departure of Garry Toomey in mid-January.
Gopalakrishnan had put in his papers last month and was supposed to serve until May 5, sources said, adding that he chose to leave three days earlier. He is the third top executive in the past year to part ways with the private airline, in which Gulf carrier Etihad Airways now holds a 24 per cent stake. Immediately after Jet announced the signing of the deal with Etihad last April, then CEO Nikos Kardassis quit, reportedly in protest against being sidelined during the protracted negotiations.
The Mumbai-based airline brought in Gary Kenneth Toomey, an Australian considered close to Etihad CEO and President James Hogan, in June. He quit after a little over six months.Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 112 aircraft, which include 10 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 8 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 4 Airbus A330-300 aircraft, 72 next generations Boeing 737-700/800/900/900 ER aircraft and 15 ATR 72-500 and 3 ATR72-600. With an average fleet age of 5.30 years, the airline has one of the youngest fleet of aircraft in the world.
Flights to 75 destinations span the length and breadth of India and beyond, including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Bangkok, Brussels, Colombo, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kuwait, london (Heathrow), Muscat, New York (Newark), Riyadh, Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto.