Within a month of Chennai-based media baron Kalanithi Maran acquiring a 37.7 per cent stake in SpiceJet, the airline's chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal resigned, on Thursday, from his post, giving a free hand to the new stakeholder to revamp the management.
"Aggarwal has put in his papers with immediate effect," sources said, adding that Gupta could be asked to takeover for the time being. Gupta has been a member of the board since 2000.
Aggarwal was appointed SpiceJet's CEO in October, 2008.
His appointment had coincided with the no-frill carrier receiving Rs 3.45 billion equity from US investor Wilbur Ross, who recently offloaded his stake to Maran.
Prior to joining as CEO, Aggarwal was SpiceJet's chief operating officer and chief strategy officer.