Jet CEO resigns, old hand Kardassis back at the helm

India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, has undergone top-level changes with its CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer quitting the airline to join British Midland Plc airline as its CEO, reports HT Correspondent.

India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, has undergone top-level changes with its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wolfgang Prock-Schauer quitting the airline to join British Midland Plc (BMI) airline as its CEO.

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Prock-Schauer who led Jet for nearly six years and helped in making it an international airline will be leaving the airline on October 15. Naresh Goyal, Jet’s chairman has appointed his old friend, advisor and Jet’s former CEO Nikos K Kardassis (52) as the acting CEO.

“We need to bring financial stability to the airline. In the coming months we will restructure the debt and increase the capital base by raising more funds. We have a good product and I need to continue what ever has been done in the past months,” Kardassis told Hindustan Times.

Kardassis was the airline’s CEO during its infancy, between 1994 and 1999. He had then left the organisation to be with his family. Kardassis, formerly with Merrill Lynch and General Electric joined back Jet 18 months ago and has been heading the Americas operations of the airline as senior vice-president. In addition, he has been advising Goyal on finance and strategy.

Kardassis takes over at a time when the 16-year-old airline is passing through a severe financial crisis amid a price war, a demand slump and a pilots’ unrest.

A confident Kardassis said that his immediate priority would be to bring financial stability and maintain continuity.