Mumbai: A little over a year after coming onboard to revive bankrupt-Jet Airways, CEO-Designate Sanjiv Kapoor has quit the airline even while its winning bidder Jalan Kalrock consortium asserted that it is committed to the airline’s revival.
The resignation of Kapoor, which follows a string of senior executives quitting the grounded airline in recent months, is the latest air pocket faced by Jet Airways, which shuttered operations back in April 2019.
After flying for more than 25 years, the once-storied Jet Airways went into an insolvency resolution process and the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) emerged as the winning bidder. However, the ownership transfer process has been facing headwinds for long.
In a statement on Friday, JKC said Kapoor is departing the company effective May 1 at the conclusion of his notice period.
A source said that Kapoor’s last working day at the grounded airline was Friday. He joined the airline as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in April 2022.
JKC said it remains fully committed to the revival of Jet Airways and its executive committee will oversee CEO-designate responsibilities until a suitable replacement is in place.
Ankit Jalan, a Board Member of the consortium, said it will be announcing the new CEO for Jet Airways shortly.
“… Jet Airways was one of the most loved airlines in India for the last 25 years it operated before ceasing operations in 2019. I am proud of the ground-breaking business plan we put together and the progress we made though regrettably, the restart of operations could not happen as planned in 2022,” Kapoor said in the statement.
Amid continuing differences with the lenders that have delayed the ownership transfer, Jalan said JKC is in the last leg of closing the transfer.
“The revival of Jet Airways is through a court-approved process, which has taken more time than originally estimated by us, but needless to say JKC is committed to the revival of Jet Airways.
“We are in the last leg of closing the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to JKC, subsequent to which we will settle outstanding amounts payable to previous creditors as per our approved resolution plan and shall, soon thereafter, recommence the commercial operations of Jet Airways as per our re-launch plans,” Jalan said.
