Sanjay Aggarwal quits as CEO of SpiceJet

India has lost a dynamic and professional CEO in the airline industry. Sanjay Aggarwal has quit SpiceJet.

Sanjay Aggarwal tendered his resignation after a board meeting on June 30, as per The Mint newspaper.

Kishore Gupta, a representative of the Kansagara family on the airline board is likely to be the acting CEO till a permanent replacement is named.

This is the second exit of a senior SpiceJet officer since the take-over of the airline by media baron Kalanithi Maran. On June 1, SpiceJet’s senior vice-president (Marketing) Anish Srikrishna had quit.

Despite initial suspicions, inside information points to a conflict between the professionalism Aggarwal brought to the airline vs. the earlier “family run” style of some of the existing directors and stake-holders as the reason for Aggarwal’s exit.

I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with Sanjay on many an occasion, his pragmatism, lateral out-of-the-box thinking, and professionalism is without parallel. Without a doubt his exit is a serious loss not only to SpiceJet by the Indian airline industry.

For planespotters, SpiceJet recently took delivery of its 21st aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 registration VT-SGG. You can see a picture here.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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