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Gurgaon, March 4th, 2014: SpiceJet Ltd today announced the appointment
of Mr. R. Neelakantan as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr.
Neelakantan served as SpiceJet’s CFO earlier from November 2010 to February 2013,
and is returning to this role after serving as the Head of Internal Audit for the
Sun Group in the interim period.
Mr. Neelakantan established excellent relationships with key stakeholders, and was
part of the SpiceJet senior team post the acquisition of the airline by the Sun
Group.
“I am delighted to welcome Neelakantan back to SpiceJet as we continue to strengthen
our management and transform the airline. Neelakantan’s return further boosts the
senior leadership team, which had earlier been boosted by the hiring of new Chief
Commercial Officer Kaneswaran Avili who will be joining SpiceJet on April 1. Mr
Avili will bring deep LCC experience with him, having been part of the founding
team of Air Asia where he served for several years, and subsequently Director of
Commercial at Tiger Airways, Singapore,” Said Mr Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Operating
Officer (COO), SpiceJet Ltd.
Mr. Neelakantan’s return to SpiceJet is part of a well-thought out succession plan
as outgoing CFO Sam Isaac had previously expressed his desire to move on to pursue
other opportunities.
SpiceJet had earlier announced the appointment of Ms Shilpa Bhatia as Senior
VP of Sales and Distribution, replacing Mr V. Raja who is retiring
at the end of this month. Ms. Bhatia was also with SpiceJet earlier from August
2009 until May 2011, when she served as Head of Corporate Sales and Sales Strategy.
Ms. Bhatia joined SpiceJet two weeks ago from the Sahara Group, where she was Global
Head of Sales and Strategy for Sahara’s Quest business unit. SpiceJet further announced
that Mr Sudhakar Kondisetty has joined SpiceJet as Senior VP of Information
Technology, and has been given the charge of unlocking the full potential
from IT to help the company innovate as well as save costs.
Mr Kondisetty is a globally experienced IT professional and worked with firms ranging
from Cambridge Technology Partners, Ness Technologies, mPhasis, and Aspect Software,
and his past experience includes the implementation of Navitaire for two airlines
in South East Asia. Mr Kondisetty replaces Mr Virendar Pal, who had also earlier
expressed his desire to pursue other opportunities, and is part of the overall succession
planning.
Also joining SpiceJet on April 1 as VP and Head of Revenue Management is Fares
Azeem Kilpady, who joins SpiceJet from Air Asia X, the long-haul arm
of Air Asia where he was Head of Revenue and Management and Pricing. Mr Anurag Jain,
who was heading Network Planning and Revenue Management, will now take on the role
of Senior VP, Network Planning and Strategy Development.
“I am delighted at the addition of highly talented and experienced professionals
with world class credentials to the SpiceJet management team”, said Mr. Kapoor.
“I am particularly delighted to have attracted back to SpiceJet, talented people
who had been with the company earlier and are now coming back to help it in its
transformation to a New SpiceJet. Their vote of confidence and desire to return
to SpiceJet speaks volumes to the efforts and dedication of SpiceJet’s over 5600
employees who are putting all of their hearts into working tirelessly each day to
transform the airline that means so much to them, an effort that both customers
as well as other stakeholders in the industry are noticing and commenting favorably
on.”
SpiceJet also stated that the recent sales and promotions offered by Spicejet over
the last two months is normal practice of any well-run low cost airline. The promotions
are targeted to achieve few key objectives:
- 1. Filling up seats that otherwise will be left empty
- 2. Stimulate new travelers and increasing the frequency of existing travelers.
- 3. Limited to flights that have capacity that is expected to not fill under normal
course
Mr Kapoor stated, “These promotions have been launched by an expert team that is
well-versed in LCC revenue and capacity management, and after analyzing the current
consumer purchasing profiles and behaviors. These highly fenced and targeted are
the best practices of all successful low cost airlines in the world. India is no
different in terms of how the market reacts to price stimulation. As a whole these
campaigns have helped revenue performance and as well helped stimulate the travel
industry and wider economy as a whole”.
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