Jet Airways crisis: Exodus of top executives continues, two more senior officials quit airline taking total exits to 6 in two days

The exodus of top executives at Jet Airways continues unabatedly even as the lenders to the crisis-hit airline are exploring various options to revive it. Two more top-level officials of the temporarily grounded airline quit on Thursday just two days after the exit of its CEO Vinay Dube and three more senior executives, said media report. Senior Vice President (Finance) Ravichandran Narayan and Senior Vice-President (Network and Revenue Management) Raj Sivakumar reportedly resigned from their positions, according to CNBC-TV18 quoting sources in the know of the development. [caption id=“attachment_6249291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Narayan has over two and half decades of experience spanning treasury, corporate finance and project finance in diversified sectors of manufacturing, international trading, aviation and hospitality in leadership roles, according to the information posted on Jet Airways website. He is a commerce graduate and a qualified chartered accountant. Sivakumar joined Jet Airways in November 2017 and has nearly two decades of global aviation experience with international carriers like United Airlines. He holds a PhD degree in operations research awarded by the State University of New York, Buffalo. The cash-starved carrier on Tuesday announced the exit of four executives — Dube, Amit Agarwal-deputy CEO, and Kuldeep Sharma—Company Secretary and, Rahul Taneja—Chief People Officer. They all left the ailing Jet Airways citing personal reasons. Shares of Jet Airways are up in morning trade at 4.28 percent at Rs 129 against previous close of Rs 123.70 The exodus of the top deck in Jet Airways is a major setback to the efforts to revive the debt-laden airline by its lenders. The lenders of Jet Airways are yet to give up hopes of becoming it airborne again. In the latest development, the SBI-led consortium of lenders is looking at a slew of options to resuscitate the ailing airline — from engaging with National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), launching a fresh search for a majority investor in Jet Airways and, along with Etihad Airways approach Hinduja Group to come on board as an investor. The lenders’ consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) and government-backed wealth fund NIIF are expected to meet this week to initiate fresh talks in a bid to strike a deal, said a media report citing people who are aware of the development. The move is seen as a major step towards reviving the embattled airline, which suspended its entire operations on 17 April due to acute liquidity crunch, the report said. In another development, lenders to Jet Airways and its previous strategic partner Etihad Airways reportedly reached out to Hinduja Group offering a stake in the grounded airline. Meanwhile, the consortium of lenders are reportedly planning to launch a fresh search for a majority investor in Jet Airways. In the absence of any major bidders coming up for the stake in Jet Airways, the lenders at a meeting on Monday decided to start another round of search for investors, the report said quoting people aware of the development.