Blow To Revival Plan: Sanjiv Kapoor, CEO-designate Of Jet Airways, Quits

Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer-designate Sanjiv Kapoor has resigned, in the latest blow to the grounded airline’s revival hopes. 

Kapoor is the third senior executive to quit this week after Vice-President (Operations) P P Singh and the airline’s Company Secretary Neeraj Manchanda. The resignations come as Jalan-Kalrock consortium (JKC) is yet to iron out differences with lenders on issues such as payment of gratuity and provident fund to the grounded airline’s staff.

In a statement, JKC board member Ankit Jalan said the consortium is committed to the revival of the airline and a new CEO for Jet Airways will be announced shortly.

“The revival of Jet Airways is through a court-approved process, which has taken more time than originally estimated. However, it is needless to say that JKC is committed to the revival of the airlines. 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 according to our approved resolution plan and shall, soon thereafter, recommence the commercial operations following our re-launch plans,” he said.

The consortium won the bid to revive the airline in October 2020. In June 2021, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan. Kapoor joined the consortium last April as CEO-designate. A team of executives was hired and plans were drawn to order or lease aircraft, but none of it has materialised yet.

With no resolution in sight, most have quit. This includes regulator-approved post holders in charge of safety, operations, training, etc, which every airline needs to obtain licence.