IndiGo appoints Rono Dutta as principal consultant to create a five year business plan

IndiGo has appointed Rono Dutta — a global aviation veteran who headed United Airlines and Air Sahara and was a board member at US Airways — as principal consultant to put together a five year business plan for India’s biggest airline by market share, said multiple people aware of the matter.Dutta, who will report to co-founder Rahul Bhatia, is a top contender to subsequently head the airline, one of the fastest growing in the world, they added on condition of anonymity.Bhatia is currently interim CEO at IndiGo, after former President Aditya Ghosh quit earlier this year and until a new chief is formally appointed. Senior advisor Gregory Taylor has been slated to take up that position. His security clearance—expatriate airline CEOs need one from the government—has been pending for months, said said one of the people cited above. Dutta’s appointment was announced to IndiGo’s top management earlier in the day.Dutta was with United Airlines for 17 years and was its president between 1999 and 2002. He was once a colleague of IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal who was with the airline between 1984 and 1994, before moving to US Airways where Dutta later became a strategic advisor and member of board.Dutta and Gangwal were at one time heading rivals United Airlines and US Airways: two Indians at the forefront of the US aviation industry, the largest in the world. Legend has it that Gangwal was the first to call Dutta after his promotion as head of United. Like Gangwal, Dutta is a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology. He received his management degree from Harvard Business School while Gangwal got his from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.Dutta later headed Air Sahara from 2004 to 2006 and quit just before its takeover by Jet Airways He was a strategic advisor for several airlines such as Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines. He advised financial institutions such as Cerebrus, Greenbrair, Houlahan Lokey and aviation consultant AAR Corp.Dutta joins IndiGo when the airline is on an unprecedented hyper-aggressive expansion spree. IndiGo has a fleet of about 200 planes and more than 350 To be delivered. It has a market capitalisation of over Rs 40,000 crore more than several of its rivals combined.But the airline also plunged to its first reported net loss of Rs 652 crore (more than Rs 1,000 crore when not padded by tax credits and fixed deposits income) for the July-September quarter from a net profit of Rs 551 crore, a year earlier. Its per seat revenue have been falling and comfortable cash reserves too been deflating. The carrier, like its peers, has been hit by rising fuel prices and the falling rupee but also, as many say, its own created problems of overcapacity.Ghosh left the airline in April. His exit was marked by disagreements with the management over several issues including the airline’s expansion plans. Dutta’s appointment is also the latest in IndiGo’s efforts to rope in global or expatriate talent as it looksto expand operations to the West in the form of low cost long haul flights. Many have warned that in its global ambitions, the airline shouldn’t lose the plot in its local market and shouldn’t just add capacity and “bully” rivals on their routes. Apart from Taylor, also a United veteran, there were other appointments such as Willy Boulter in the position of chief strategy officer, Michael Swiatek as chief planning officer and Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as chief operating officer among others apart from Rohit Philip—one of the first such appointments—as chief financial officer.If Dutta, 66, does become IndiGo chief, he would be heading an airline after more than a decade. He has led an Indian and an American airline and will have to weave in knowledge and experience from the best of both worlds in his five year plan for IndiGo.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2FWYxc3