Hours after deputy's resignation, Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube quits citing 'personal reasons'

Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube tendered his resignation on Tuesday with "immediate effect" citing "personal reasons". Dube's resignation came hours after the cash-strapped carrier's chief financial officer Amit Agarwal quit the airline.  

"We wish to inform you that Mr. Vinay Dube, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, vide his letter dated 14 May 2019, has resigned from the services of the company with immediate effect due to personal reasons," Jet Airways said in a communication to stock exchanges.

Dube had joined Jet Airways in August 2017 after serving for several years at Delta Airlines, Sabre and American Airlines. Prior to Jet, he was the senior vice president for Asia Pacific at Delta Airlines.

The two high-profile exits come barely a month after the debt-ridden Jet Airways stopped its operation after the lenders declined a Rs 400-crore lifeline, putting at stake 20,000 jobs and thousands of crores in passenger refunds, dues to vendors and over Rs 8,500 crore to banks.

Last month, Nasim Zaidi resigned as non-executive and non-independent director on the airline’s board citing ‘personal reasons’ and ‘time constraints’.

Independent director Rajshree Pathy also quit the board of the airline in April, weeks after founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal quit the airline’s board.

Meanwhile, a media report lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) are preparing to begin a fresh search for a majority investor in the airline as Etihad Airways stopped short of offering any comprehensive resolution plan.

Founded by Naresh Goyal, who began as a general sales agent to a host of international airlines with travel agency Jetair, the full-service carrier served tens of millions of passengers for over two-and-half decades, before becoming the seventh domestic carrier to shutter operations in the past five years.

However, the once-premier airline flew into deeper turbulence -- second in its history after the 2010 crisis -- after four back-to-back quarterly losses, leaving it gasping for financial breath and forcing it to default on payments to nearly all--from banks to lessors, to employees, and eventually leading to the shutdown as its fleet strength crimped to just about five planes from 123 in December last.