SpiceJet on CFO hunt, rejigs top deck

MUMBAI: Spicejet, the Delhi-based low-cost carrier, is witnessing some changes at its top-management level. The company has appointed GoAir CFO GP Gupta as its chief administrative officer.

It has also entrusted search firm Spanco Steward with the task of finding a CFO and an human resource head. These positions fell vacant after the former CFO Parthasarathy Basu and VP-HR Surajit Banerjee left the company.

SpiceJet chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal told ET: ���There are some changes at the top executives��� level and the company will see new set of people in the coming months.���

SpiceJet has also appointed Shilpa Bhatia as its new VP-corporate sales. She was earlier working with Bird Group. Mr Aggarwal said the company will soon have a new marketing head. ���A few more will join the company next month,��� he said.

US investor Wilbur Ross, who had invested Rs 380 crore in SpiceJet last year, had brought in Mr Aggarwal a few months after former CEO Siddhanta Sharma left the company.

Meanwhile, Mr Aggarwal strongly denied merger speculations with either GoAir or JetLite. He said, the company has been sitting on ���enough cash��� as it is yet to utilise the funds it had received from Wilbur Ross.

���There is a possibility of consolidation in the Indian airline industry next year. But at this point of time, our focus is to make the business profitable,��� Mr Aggarwal added. SpiceJet has suffered a net loss of about Rs 18 crore in the December quarter.
According to the latest report on Indian airlines by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), low-cost carriers such as SpiceJet and IndiGo need significant capital.

SpiceJet was among the low-cost carriers which saw an increase in passengers in February as compared to January. It carried 20,000 more passengers in February.

Domestic carriers are expected to incur a combined loss of nearly $2 billion in 2008-09 on account of high fuel price in the first half of the current financial year. Irrational pricing and excess capacity may also add to their woes.