Vinay Dube Quits GoAir In An Instant, Kaushik Khona Replaces Him As CEO

GoAir today appointed Kaushik Khona as its new chief executive officer, in place of Vinay Dube. who is leaving the airline with immediate effect.

This would be Khona's second stint as CEO of GoAir. Under his watch between 2009-2011 the airline had seen an improvement in load factors and revenue. Khona has been instrumental in the turnaround of various companies, the airline said on his appointment.

Khona's turnaround skills will be put to test again as the aviation sector is facing its worst crisis due to Covid-19. GoAir is facing a liquidity crisis and has seen a credit rating downgrade. The airline's cash and bank balance halved to Rs 72.5 crore on a sequential basis in the June quarter. Earlier this week it was put on a cash-and-carry basis by Airport Authority of India.

The Wadia group-owned airline is on a cost cutting drive and around 70 per cent of its employees have been on leave without pay since the lockdown in March. Several vice presidents and department heads too were asked to go on leave without pay recently to conserve cash. The airline has also seen top level resignations in recent weeks including those of company secretary Kuldeep Sharma and head of in-flight services and catering Ajit Bhagchandani.

Dube, who earlier served as CEO of Jet Airways, joined GoAir in February and was entrusted with revenue and profit margin expansion. But the airline's plans went haywire with Covid-19 outbreak.