IndiGo’s Kumar steps down as chief commercial officer

IndiGo’s chief commercial officer Sanjay Kumar, who had during the last decade seen the airline rise to become the largest domestic carrier by market share, has resigned from the company barely months after its president and whole time director Aditya Ghosh put in his papers.

Kumar’s exit comes at a time when the airline, which had held most of its top executives from the time of its inception, is seeing a subtle shift in its board, as new officials replace the old guards to guide the airline on its next phase of growth to overseas markets.

IndiGo’s chief strategy officer William Boulter will take over from Kumar as chief commercial officer, when he leaves the airline on July 15, IndiGo.

“The last 12 years at IndiGo has been the most satisfying and rewarding experience of my career,” said Kumar.

“I am extremely proud to have been a part of commercial success of the airline,” said Kumar, who had also worked at Sahara Airlines and SpiceJet before joining IndiGo.

During the last 12-18 months, IndiGo has seen a large number of expats join the airline, who industry experts say were handpicked by the airline’s promoter and co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, an United Airlines executive, to usher in the next phase of the airline’s growth.

The slew of foreign executives that has joined the airline include former United Airline executive Gregory Taylor, who’s earmarked to be the airline’s next chief executive and president, former Etihad Airways executive Boulter, former Qatar airways executive Michael Swiatek as chief planning officer, former Jet Airways and GoAir executive Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as chief operating officer, and former AirAsia executive Jason Herter and Cindy Szadokierski as vice presidents.

IndiGo also appointed former United Airline’s executive Rohit Phillip as chief financial officer in 2016 after its then chief financial officer Pankaj Madan left the airline. The high profile exits in the past few months include its corporate communications head Ajay Jasra and chief pilot training officer Captain Sanjiv Bhalla, apart from Aditya Ghosh.

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