The Kalanithi Maran-promoted budget airline SpiceJet on Tuesday announced the appointment of R Neelakantan as its chief financial officer (CFO). Neelakantan had served as SpiceJet?s CFO earlier from November 2010 to February 2013 and is returning to this role after serving as the head of its internal audit team for the Sun Group in the interim period.
Neelakantan was part of the SpiceJet senior team post the acquisition of the airline by the Sun Group.
SpiceJet COO Sanjiv Kapoor said: ?Neelakantan?s return further boosts the senior leadership team, which had earlier been boosted by the hiring of new chief commercial officer Kaneswaran Avili who will be joining on April 1.? Outgoing CFO Sam Isaac had previously expressed his desire to move on to pursue other opportunities.
SpiceJet also announced that Sudhakar Kondisetty has joined SpiceJet as senior VP of information technology. He had earlier worked with companies like Cambridge Technology Partners, Ness Technologies, MPhasis etc.
Also joining SpiceJet on April 1 as VP and head of revenue management is Fares Azeem Kilpady, who joins SpiceJet from Air Asia X. Anurag Jain, who was heading network planning and revenue management, will now take on the role of senior VP, network planning and strategy development.
Co defends discounted tickets
Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday defended its move to offer discounted flight tickets during February which ultimately led to a fare war with other airlines following suit by offering similar discounts under their advance booking schemes.
SpiceJet had on February 24 offered up to 75% off on base fare and fuel surcharge relative to last minute fares, for travel between April 1 and June 30.
?These promotions have been launched by an expert team that is well-versed in LCC revenue and capacity management, and after analyzing the current consumer purchasing profiles and behaviours. These highly fenced and targeted are the best practices of all successful low cost airlines in the world. India is no different in terms of how the market reacts to price stimulation,? said SpiceJet COO Sanjiv Kapoor.
