Headless since February, GoAir finally hires ex-Airbus executive Miranda Mills; to take charge from August

Mumbai: The Wadia group-run low-cost airline GoAir, which has been headless since February, has hired industry veteran Miranda Mills, a former executive of Airbus and Rolls Royce, as its chief operating officer. Mills will be heading the operations of the city-headquartered airline that is reportedly planning an initial share sale this year, and will report to managing director and chief executive Jeh Wadia, the airline told PTI confirming the appointment. She will take charge from August. The airline has been headless since February when the then chief executive officer Cornellis Vriewijk resigned citing “family” reasons after being at the helm for just about nine months. That apart, the airline has seen many as 15 senior management personnel, including chief operating officer and chief commercial officer, leaving the airline since last July, due to various reasons. Since last July, chief operating officer Jyri Strandman due to differences with the management before three months of joining, chief commercial officer Manish Ranega too left the within two months. That apart four vice-presidents and scores of heads/general managers left the airline since then. Strangely, it has been learnt that though the airline offered these positions, nobody has so far accepted them. When contacted for comment on these massive exoduses of top talents, the airline in a statement said it “maintains and encourages high standards of performance across all levels. As per our internal standards and on their review, some of these executives were found wanting on critical performance parameters and were asked to leave with due process.” [caption id=“attachment_3093042” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Other executives who left the carrier during this period included vice-president for assets, contracts and procurement Brono Mundaca in August last; marketing vice- president Saurabh Grover in October, and company secretary Nikhil Vohra in November. Mills is an aeronautical engineer from the University of Glasgow and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and has a career spanning over 25 years in the aerospace industry, the airline said on Wednesday confirming her appointment. She has spent 16 years with Airbus which culminated in her running the British ENS satellite business unit while also being its global sales & marketing director. She was sales vice-president for commercial aircraft division for South Asia and had held may other roles before that. After Airbus, she had a short stint with the satellite service company Inmarsat as president, followed by Rolls Royce’s civil aerospace unit as the chief digital officer and director of transformation. The IPO-bound GoAir operates 285 daily flights connecting 24 domestic cities and four international destinations.