SpiceJet’s Chief Operating Officer Sanjiv Kapoor on Thursday put in his papers, nearly ten months after original promoter Ajay Singh took over the reins of the budget airline. Kapoor, 48, was appointed to the post by then owner Kalanithi Maran in November 2013.
“Chief Operating Officer, Sanjiv Kapoor will be leaving the company effective October 31, 2015 after two years with the organisation. He shall be serving his notice period as per the terms of his employment agreement,” SpiceJet said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
His abrupt resignation comes over a year before the expiry of his employment contract, SpiceJet sources said. “We thank Sanjiv for leading SpiceJet at a very difficult time. He has been, and will remain, a strong and passionate supporter of the airline. We wish Sanjiv all success in his future endeavours,” Singh, the airline’s chairman and managing director said.
Kapoor is believed to have been sidelined after the new management took over earlier this year following the Marans offloading their entire holding to Singh. An avid user of micro blogging site Twitter, Kapoor has been a visible face of the no-frills airline and a strong supporter of flash sales of discounted tickets.
“After overcoming significant challenges and under the new ownership, SpiceJet has not only returned to profitability, it has been a fundamental catalyst behind the world leading market growth in India. Thanks to SpiceJet, competition has been kept alive in the Indian airline industry,” Kapoor said.
The carrier has seen many senior-level exits since the change in ownership. The then SpiceJet managing director, S Natrajhen, was the first top official exiting the carrier soon after Singh came onboard Since then the airline has seen the resignation of seven more senior executives including Kapoor.
The others, who exited from the carrier in the last ten months are then chief commercial officer Kaneswaran Avili, IT head Sudhakar Kondisetty, flight operations head Sandeep Verma and flight safety head V K Khosla.
A co-founder of SpiceJet, Singh, who exited the airline in 2010, took back its control after acquiring the entire 58.46 per cent stake of Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways Pvt ltd in February as part of a revival plan.