Lueders took charge of the wholly-owned subsidiary on April 5 this year after the contract of its CEO of three years Garry Kingshott came to an end.
The exact date of his departure is, however, not known. It's not clear whether JetLite would have another expat as a CEO or continue with the chief operating officer Rajeev Gupta for the time-being.
Jet Airways and JetLite are merging their backend operations in an attempt to achieve synergy, make the organisation leaner and save costs.
JetLite is preparing to re-launch itself as a hybrid-airline model. It is attempting to move at least 300 of its 2,200 personnel to other operations and feeding into Jet's network as a conscious management move, according to sources.
The airline has pulled out a total of 26 flights, including some flight operations to metros such as Delhi and Mumbai. It has also postponed the launch of its international operations due to the high fuel costs.
Lueders may have found this management move not exactly to his liking after spending 40 years in the aviation business and taking on the challenge of establishing a low-cost carrier in Scandinavia, insiders say.
In a text reply to a query, Lueders confirmed his exit from the airline and said, "There is not much to comment. The date when I will leave has not been confirmed yet. My assignment is coming to an end. I will not be leaving because of some other jobs. The integration between JetLite and Jet Airways is almost complete, which means that my job is done."
It is not clear whether the management decided to do away with two heavyweights to operate JetLite on its own terms as a merged entity, though the airline would still have a different face on the front end.
"The airline is in a cost-cutting mode and as it is, the operations of the two entities are almost merged. In that case, this might be a move by the management to do away with dual heads," said a Jet executive, not wanting to be identified.
JetLite has almost become an embarrassment to its promoter Naresh Goyal because of its different corporate culture, operational delays and flight cancellations. Jet bought the rival carrier Sahara Airline from the Sahara Group in April 2007 for a sum of Rs 1,450 crore (Rs 14.50 billion). The airline posted a combined loss of Rs 654 crore (Rs 6.54 billion) in the last financial year.
Lueders had conceded to cultural issues within the airline while commenting on the exit of at least 30 pilots (including 18 commanders) from the airline over the last six months. He told this newspaper that JetLite should look within for the best industry talent as it is not a preferred employer.
