Amit Agarwal named as Jet Airways deputy CEO in management rejig

Administrative overhaul sees return of former CCO, naming of Air France KLM exec as global sales head

Jet Airways chief financial officer Amit Agarwal has been named as the deputy chief executive officer of the airline in a management rejig that also sees the return of its former chief commercial officer and change in roles for senior executives.

The rejig is the first after Delta executive Vinay Dube took charge as the chief executive officer of the airline in August and is being seen as his way of streamlining and strengthening the management. Sources indicate that there could be more such changes in the coming months.

Jet Airways did not immediately offer comments.

Agarwal joined Jet as its chief financial officer in 2015 and was also its acting CEO before Dube took over in August. Agarwal will continue to hold the CFO post in addition to the new role, the airline informed the stock exchange on Wednesday.

Raj Sivakumar has returned to the airline as its senior vice president (network planning and revenue management). Sivakumar was the chief commercial officer before leaving the airline in 2015.

Marnix Fruitema, Air France-KLM’s senior vice-president in charge of North America, has been named as executive vice president of global sales in Jet, in an indication of growing partnership between the airlines. 
 

The two airlines are set to enter into a commercial joint venture on routes between India and Europe. “Marnix will also help us leverage the sales and distribution strength of our alliance partners to drive a higher quality of sales in their international home markets,” Dube wrote in an office e-mail announcing the changes.

The roles of key executives have been changed.  Chief commercial officer Jairaj Shanmugam will handle a smaller portfolio after being re-designated as executive vice-president of products and services at the firm. Sources say Shanmugam will now look after airports, in-flight services and products, while sales and revenue management will come under Sivakumar and Fruitema. 

Belson Coutinho has been promoted as a senior vice-president and is slated to take charge of the marketing division. He will have an expanded role that will include heading guest relations and call centres. 

Meanwhile, Nikhil Ved has been appointed as senior vice president of strategy and business transformation.

Among other changes, Gilbert George, vice president (Europe and America), will be returning to India and will head India sales, while Praveen Iyer, who currently heads the domestic sales, will be joining as a vice president in revenue management department at Jet Airways.

In subsequent changes, Gautam Acharya has been appointed as vice president of legal and regulatory affairs. He takes charge of the legal department from Ashok Barimar who assumes the role of an advisor. 

The operations department too has new heads. Captain Sudhir Gaur takes over as senior vice president of flight operations while Captain Floyd Gracious takes charge of vice president (flight safety) and Captain Ajay Singh as senior vice president (Regulatory Compliance).