Jet Airways Bulks Up Senior Management Team

The Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) today announced new appointments for the Jet Airways leadership team, as the airline prepares to make a historic comeback with fresh funding, changed ownership, and new management.

The following individuals have been appointed:

• Prabh Sharan Singh, Chief Digital Officer
• HR Jagannath, Vice President – Engineering
• Mark Turner, Vice President – Inflight Product and Services
• Vishesh Khanna, Vice President – Sales, Distribution, and Customer Engagement

Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome these extremely talented and experienced leaders to the Jet Airways family. All of us in the senior management team of Jet Airways share many things in common, the most important of which is our joint sense of purpose and passion of rebuilding Jet as India’s most people-focused and loved airline, updated for the digital age. This stellar team is deeply committed to bringing the ‘joy of flying’ back to the skies, and I am looking forward to working with them to create history.”

Prabh Sharan Singh (Chief Digital Officer) takes charge on 1 June 2022. Prabh will head the IT and Digital division and lead the creation of a modern technological and digital ecosystem for Jet Airways, focused on providing a simplified and consistent experience to internal and external users on all IT and digital platforms. Currently Senior Vice President at WNS Global Services, Prabh is a Digital Transformation executive with years of leadership experience in driving digital strategies and automation levers. His rich experience spanning nearly 20 years includes stints at Etihad Airways, where he worked as Strategy & Portfolio Lead within the carrier’s Digital Technology & Innovation division, and at Kingfisher Airlines, where he worked as General Manager – Commercial Alliances. At Etihad, Prabh led several transformational initiatives, redefining business by promoting digital transformation and creating innovative strategies that deliver powerful, revenue-generating solutions. He was instrumental in the design and implementation of IT strategies for application development, operational support, security, and architecture, with a focus on adoption and execution of new delivery models, and on practices to induce innovation and faster speed to market.

HR Jagannath (Vice President – Engineering) takes charge today, 23 May 2022. He will lead Jet’s engineering and maintenance team and brings with him over 40 years of aviation experience. Jagannath most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Air India Engineering Services (Air India’s MRO subsidiary). During the four decades of his service at Air India in various roles and capacities, he was instrumental in the setting up of MRO facilities in India, including those at Thiruvananthapuram, Nagpur, and Hyderabad, and in establishing the company’s overseas branch offices with line maintenance set-ups. He also led the delivery of two specially configured Boeing 777 aircraft to the Indian Air Force for VVIP operations.

Mark Turner (Vice President – Inflight Product and Services) takes charge on 15 June 2022.

Mark will play a key role in defining and shaping the infight customer experience of Jet Airways. Mark led Jet Airways’ inflight services team between 2008 and 2011, a phase of rapid growth at Jet Airways. He has over 40 years of aviation experience and has been engaged in start-ups, re-brandings, re-launches, and business transformational projects across geographies, having held key senior management positions at Gulf Air, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Fiji Airways. At Jet, Mark will be overseeing cabin crew operations, training, and service development, inflight product development, and catering.

Vishesh Khanna (Vice President – Sales, Distribution, and Customer Engagement) takes charge in July 2022. Vishesh joins the airline from VFS Global Ltd, where he currently serves as Business Head e-Visa. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the aviation and travel sectors across B2C and B2B sales, having held executive positions at various airlines in the past. Prior to joining VFS Global, Vishesh was Vice President – Sales for India and Overseas Markets at Vistara (a Tata-Singapore Airlines JV), where he built the sales function from the ground up and led a very able team that helped generate over 85% of the airline’s revenue. As VP Corporate Sales at Kingfisher Airlines from 2010 to 2013, Vishesh’s responsibilities included managing over 1500 corporations in India and abroad, as well as several large travel management companies. He has previously also worked with IndiGo, as VP – Corporate Sales India, having set up their corporate sales function during the carrier’s initial years, as well as with InterGlobe Technology Quotient (Galileo India) in a similar role. At Jet, Vishesh will be overseeing customer engagement as well, covering customer relations and the contact centre.

Earlier this year, JKC appointed Sanjiv Kapoor as CEO, Vipula Gunatilleka as CFO, Capt. PP Singh as Vice President- Flight Operations and Accountable Manager, Alphonso Dass as Vice President – Airports & Airport Training, Nakul Tuteja as Vice President – Human Resources & Administration, and Ronit Baugh as General Manager & Head of PR and Corporate Communications. The airline has also appointed Head of other key departments, details of which will be revealed in due course.

Last week, Jet Airways received its revalidated Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), enabling the airline to resume its scheduled commercial operations in India. The airline intends to recommence commercial operations in the next quarter of this year (July-September 2022).