 "When outsiders take the cockpit")
AirAsia's Chandilya, the latest to join the fray, could certainly take heart from the performance records of Ghosh, Sharma and, to some extent, Nandan, the career-bureaucrat who has, over 18-20 months, brought some semblance of stability to operations of the beleaguered national carrier.
Ghosh's has been a fairy tale flight - from a law firm into the cockpit of the country's largest airline in terms of passenger numbers. Sharma, a finance professional by training, had worked in liquor and food companies before entering aviation. Chandilya, with stints in recruitment and manufacturing industries, considers his non-airline experience to be an advantage. "I am a start-up and turnaround person...being disruptive is my strength," he says. AirAsia has several non-airline CEOs across its subsidiaries in other countries, he adds.
So, is there something in India's airline environment that makes it conducive to 'industry outsiders'?
Saroj K Datta, former executive director of Jet Airways and an industry veteran with around 40 years of experience, concedes at times, CEOs from within the industry come with preconceived notions. Any airline CEO has to manage people, deal with operations and understand financial matters, he says. Irrespective of the background, airline CEOs have to deal with the peculiar challenges of this competitive industry. "If they are good, (then there is) no problem," he adds. Globally, there have been several instances of outsiders transforming an airline company. Perhaps, the most well-chronicled is that of the late Collin Marshal, chief of British Airways (BA) from 1983 to 2004. Marshal turned around the fortunes of BA, though he came from a car rental business. Another instance is that of Idris Jala, who spent over two decades in the oil and gas industry, before leading Malaysian Airlines out of near-bankruptcy within a year, as its CEO from 2005 to 2009.
Ghosh, a lawyer, and Sharma, a chartered accountant, have one thing in common - they were part of their respective airlines from an early stage. Ghosh started working on Project IndiGo when it was still on the drawing board.
This was during his stint at law firm Jyoti Sagar Associates. He subsequently joined InterGlobe, IndiGo Airlines' parent, as general counsel and was involved in all key decisions related to aircraft purchase, negotiating with vendors and hiring key personnel. Later, he took charge as president of IndiGo in 2008, after the departure of founding-president and CEO Bruce Ashby.
What also works in his favour is that InterGlobe has a team of hard-core airline professionals heading various functional disciplines. Known as a self-effacing and a people person, Ghosh acknowledges he draws upon the experience of the promoters - Rahul Bhatia, a travel industry veteran, and Rakesh Gangwal, former US Airways CEO. Sharma was associated with SpiceJet from the time the promoters - non-resident India businessman Bhupender Khansagra and Ajay Singh - bought the defunct ModiLuft from the previous promoter. It was only when founding CEO Mark Winder left after a year that Sharma took charge as CEO, before becoming the airline's executive chairman. Subsequently, he headed InterGlobe Air Transport, an airline management company.
Nandan's stint in the aviation ministry as joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation has helped him navigate the corridors of power for a bailout package from the government. Air India has a history of being led by bureaucrats. Nandan has stuck to the government-approved turnaround plan for the loss-making airline.
Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (India), says Air India has a wealth of human resource experience, with functional expertise in various facets of the airline business.
"Rohit Nandan has performed exceptionally well, given the circumstances, especially the way the Ministry of Civil Aviation runs Air India without accountability," says Kaul. But he adds any airline CEO with a non-airline background should preferably be supported by a chief operating officer with experience in the airline industry.
Ernest Arvai, president and CEO of US-based The Arvai Group, an aviation consultancy service, prefers to focus on the traits of a successful CEO, irrespective of whether the person is from an aviation background or from any other industry. If non-aviation CEOs are good managers and can articulate a vision and motivate the organisation to execute a vision, they will succeed, he says. "Effective CEOs share the same skill sets across industries."
Would Chandilya be able to match the track record of Ghosh, Sharma and Nandan? Time alone will tell.