Nasim Zaidi, Ashok Chawla to join Jet Airways' board

The board overhaul comes close on heels of the management restructuring ahead of its proposed joint venture of Air France-KLM.

Two former bureaucrats S Nasim Zaidi and Ashok Chawla are set to join the board of Jet Airways, country's second largest domestic carrier by market share.

The upcoming overhaul is likely to see the resignation of former bureaucrat Dinesh Kumar Mittal who currently serves as an independent director in the board. Jet Airways has sought security clearance for both Zaidi and Chawla as required under norms and an approval is expected soon, government sources said. The airline's board is expected to ratify the changes next month.

While Zaidi retired as the chief election commissioner in July, Chawla retired as the chairman of Competition Commission of India last year.

Both Zaidi and Chawla have served as civil aviation secretaries. Zaidi served as India's permanent representative of International Civil Aviation Organisation and was also the Director General of Civil Aviation before being taking charge as the secretary in the civil aviation ministry.

The Jet board overhaul comes close on heels of the management restructuring ahead of its proposed joint venture with Air France-KLM.

Jet Airways and Chawla declined to comment while Zaidi did not respond to text message and calls seeking his comment.

Jet Airways' board comprises of nine members and is led by its founder-chairman Naresh Goyal. His wife Anita also sits on the board.

The airline is yet to fill up the post of vice chairman following the resignation of Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan.

Etihad, which owns 24 per cent stake in the airline, has two board seats and Harsh Mohan joined as the Gulf airline's nominee on the board in September. The airline is yet to nominate a second board member to fill up the post vacated by the resignation of its chief financial officer James Rigney. Both Hogan and Rigney quit Etihad earlier this year.

Last week, 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.

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.