Jet Airways' growth has been mindboggling. What do you attribute it to?
I believe it can be attributed to our teamwork. It is our employees who believe in the company, who are passionate and hardworking who are responsible for our success. They want to show that we can have a good airline of which India and Indians can be proud.
Employees are important, but so is leadership...
Leadership is important in every company, but the role of leader is that of a referee. Jet Airways is a passion for me. Wherever you go you see how proud Indians are today: Be it in Canada, or the US or anywhere. We have the best minds in banking, media, engineering, IT, etc. Just see how Indians are now making a mark in every field. That sets me going. And I feel that India and Indians can create brands of which India can be proud and the entire world will say, 'Yes Indians can do anything!'
You started very small...
Yes, of course. I started my career in 1967, 40 years ago. I was 18 then. My starting salary was $40, about Rs 300, a month. It was a good salary.
I was working for a travel agency that was handling, among others, the Lebanese Airlines business. I worked there for a number of airlines. Then I started my own company Jet Airways in 1974, which was a GSA (general sales agents) and we were handling the business of several airlines like KLM, American Airlines, Far Eastern Airlines, etc. I then also started a tour company.
'Manmohan Singh, our prime minister and the then finance minister, is the architect of deregulation. As finance minister he said: 'You can fly domestic.' We decided on May 5, 1993, to launch Jet Airways as an airline with four aircraft. Manmohan Singh was very supportive of our move.
Now we have bought Sahara Airlines, which we call Jet Light. Between the two airlines we have 90 planes.
Image: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel congratulates Naresh Goyal on the New Delhi-Toronto flight. Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: How Naresh Goyal built Jet Airways
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