Jet Chief Executive Cramer Ball quits

Fourth CEO resignation since April 2013; Gaurang Shetty is acting CEO of airline

Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Cramer Ball on Thursday resigned to join Alitalia in the same position. Both airlines are co-owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways. Ball becomes the fourth CEO of the private carrier to have quit since April 2013 when it offloaded a part of stake to Etihad.

The airline also announced that its whole-time director Guarang Shetty will serve as acting CEO under the supervision of Chairman Naresh Goyal.

Ball was appointed as the Jet Airways CEO in May 2014, after the acting chief executive Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan, who was also the chief financial officer of Jet Airways, decided to part ways with Naresh Goyal-owned full service carrier.

Ball has quit the airline to pursue a new opportunity, in Europe for family reasons, Jet Airways said in a statement, while announcing that his resignation will be effective from February 29 next.

Ball, an Australian national, joined Jet Airways last May after a stint in Air Seychelles. In a statement, Jet Airways said Ball was leaving the airline effective next February to pursue an opportunity in Europe.

Sources said Ball’s wife is of Italian descent and that too may have been a factor behind his move to shift to Italy.

“We are not surprised by his resignation. Though Jet turnaround is beginning to show results as evident from second quarter results, management stability at the top continues to be a challenge and needs to be addressed. Otherwise structural turnaround is not possible,” said Kapil Kaul of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Jet Airways has seen a number of its senior executive departing from the carrier in the last two-and-a-half years with two top executives besides Ball having quit this year alone. In September this year, its vice-president for fleet management Krishnan Balakrishnan had left the carrier to join budget airline GoAir as its chief financial officer. Earlier in August, its then Chief Commercial Officer Raj Sivakumar also moved out of the Mumbai-headquartered airline.

“Cramer has, during his tenure, made a significant contribution in the journey to turn around Jet Airways. The company recorded two consecutive profitable quarters after a gap of eight years,” Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said in a statement.

Shetty will now lead the operating committee in managing the day-to-day operations of the company, the release said, adding that he will be functioning under the supervision and control of the board of directors, chaired by Goyal.

“I am honoured to have been able to play a part in the turnaround of Jet Airways, as it moves towards long-term sustainable profitability... I am pleased with the progress that has been made,” Ball said on his resignation.

Nikos Kardassis was the first CEO to part ways with Goyal after he signed the Rs 2,069 crore stake sale deal with Etihad in April 2013.

Following Kardasis resignation, Jet Airways brought in Gary Kenneth Toomey as its new CEO in October, who too stepped out after serving the airline only for nearly six months despite a three-year job contract.

At this stage, the then CFO Gopalakrishnan was made acting CEO, who also quit the airline in March last year.