Short haul for AI Express COO Arora, as board sacks him

New Delhi: The board of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) has decided to sack Pawan Arora, the controversial chief operating officer of Air India Express, the low-cost wing of the national carrier.
The move is a clear reflection of the growing clout of independent directors on the board, who have been clamouring for Arora’s ouster and had discussed the issue separately with Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office T K A Nair.
Air India’s top management, however, stoutly defended Arora's appointment, saying allegations against him were untrue. The independent directors were brought in by the government to primarily oversee cleaning up of the company’s financial mess and improve operational effeciencies.
“The board neither discussed any of the appointments nor listened to any arguments and asked Arora to leave the airline. Arguments in defence of Arora by AI COO Gustav Baldauf were ignored,” said a source in the airline, who did not want to be identified.
The airline recently appointed Baldauf as COO, Stefan Sukumar as chief training officer and Kamaljit Rattan as chief information officer. “The board cleared the appointments of Baldauf and Rattan, but has asked the airline to review the appointment of Sukumar,” the source added.
The meeting was attended by three of the five independent directors. Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman & managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, and M A Yusuffali, managing director of Emke Group, did not attend.
19/11/10 Business Standard

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Categories: Air India Nov 2010