Jet Air's wings get clipped further

Three senior executives - Pradeep Kumar (senior vice- president, cargo), Shrimanikandan Ananthvaidyanathan (chief information officer) and Praveen Iyer (vice-president, revenue management), have quit amid worsening financial situation

The heads of cargo, information technology and revenue management at Jet Airways have resigned from the company amid a worsening financial situation.

A Jet spokesperson said the executives had resigned on personal grounds. Those moving out are Pradeep Kumar (senior vice- president, cargo), Shrimanikandan Ananthvaidyanathan (chief information officer) and Praveen Iyer (vice-president, revenue management).

While Kumar and Ananthvaidyanathan are relatively recent recruits at Jet, Iyer has been with the airline for 13 years.

He had indicated his desire to move on a few months earlier and is taking up a non-aviation role abroad, a source said.

The exits come as the airline is struggling to pay salaries and vendors on time.

In an e-mailed response to a query, the airline said, “Jet Airways respects the personal decisions of a few of its executives to pursue opportunities outside the organisation.

"The airline acknowledges their several contributions and wishes them success in their future endeavours.

"As part of the routine course of business, the airline has a well-defined succession plan in place.”

A tough operating environment and cash crunch has forced the airline to ground over a dozen of its aircraft.

The winter schedule of the airline runs from end-October to March but the airline has yet to send the entire schedule to the regulator, given the uncertainty over aircraft availability.

Jet currently has 124 planes and a schedule of around 650 daily flights.

The airline said it was working on a Rs 20-billion cost saving plan which includes renegotiation of vendor contracts.

According to a report,  Jet has also indicated to its foreign lenders that it would maintain a minimum revenue threshold of $700 million per quarter, apart from opting for “manpower rationalisation” and “productivity improvement”.

It had enforced a 5-25 per cent salary cut for the 150 senior-most executives (general manager rank and above), including its chief executive officer.

A pay cut plan for pilots and engineers was dropped due to resistance from both categories of employees.

Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters