SpiceJet owners go for top-level rejig, ask CCO Kaneswaran Avili to step down

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Spice-Jet’s chief commercial officer Kaneswaran Avili quit the loss-making budget airline on Friday amid a process set in motion by the new owners to replace the top management. “Kaneswaran Avili is leaving the company to pursue certain entrepreneurial opportunities that he has been very keen on,” SpiceJet said in a news release. A few more executives in the senior management are on their way out, people familiar with the matter said.

Avili, who joined SpiceJet on April 1 last year, was behind the several discount offerings the airline offered in the past one year, a strategy that is now being blamed by many for the airline’s downfall as the discounts boosted capacity utilisation but hurt the bottom line. In the news release, however, SpiceJet’s chief operating officer Sanjiv Kapoor lauded discounts.

In another development, the airline has renegotiated the contract with Bombardier, bringing the maintenance cost down by about 50%.

The maintenance agreement has been structured such that the per hour maintenance cost for the aircraft comes to the same as for a Boeing aircraft, an executive said.

BOARD ENTRY

SpiceJet plans to induct promoter Ajay Singh’s wife Shivani Singh to the company’s board and will seek approval of its shareholders next month, a person close to the development said. The company had last month got an approval from the government to appoint Singh. It was part of a larger restructuring that also included the appointments of Tejpreet S Chopra, former India chief of General Electric, and Harsha Vardhana Singh, adjunct professor, Columbia University.