Raghu Menon, special secretary and financial advisor in the civil aviation ministry, has been appointed the chairman and managing director of Air India, ending weeks of speculation over the issue.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the name of Menon, a 1974 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Nagaland cadre, after a keen race for the top job in the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), which runs the merged national carrier.
"I recently flew on one of our aircraft and I was pleasantly surprised. Our aeroplanes are brand new and a pleasure to travel on. They can give any airline a run for their money," says Raghu Menon.
With Arvind Jadhav, principal secretary, in the department of infrastructure development of the Karnataka government, emerging as the frontrunner in the race to replace Raghu Menon as the chairman and managing director of the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, informed sources said Menon lost the coveted job because of his opposition to the airline's proposed joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).
Highly placed sources said Oil Minister Murli Deora took exception to Menon's proposals during a meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to resolve the crisis arising out of mounting fuel bill arrears. "There should not be any layoffs. Why are you raising it now," sources quoted Deora as telling Menon.
The board meeting of the state-owned airlines was also attended by Arvind Jadhav, for the first time since he took over as Nacil CMD after the sudden exit of erstwhile chairman Raghu Menon from the company. However, sources in the company said no final decision could be taken as the issue would be discussed with the new government and the civil aviation ministry.
The government has not taken any decision on the communications ministry's proposal for appointing the next chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Raghu Menon, CMD of National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), had said last year that more than 70 per cent of the merger process would be completed by the end of FY09.
Air India's newly-appointed Chairman and Managing Director Raghu Menon has ruled out a possibility of an initial public offer this year. Instead Air India will approach the Government for infusing more money to strengthen its equity base. Air India would build up a well-considered case before approaching the Government on the matter. Air India was looking at employee stock options (ESOPs). Govt help will be required due to the huge borrowings it had taken to buy new aircraft.
Facing the heat of the financial crisis that has hit the aviation sector, state-owned Air India on Thursday said it is considering a plan to give 3-5 years leave without pay to about 15,000 of its staff.
He's taking charge of a carrier which is in the midst of dealing with a new reality. The ink on the merger is not yet dry and the internal politics has led to groupism within the senior management. Predictably, management attention has been diverted to handling personnel issues rather than on the core function of running the airline.
Ending suspense over the appointment of Air-India MD, the government said on Friday that Sunil Arora, chairman and managing director of Indian Airlines would assume additional charge of the international airline.
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