Aviation min sacks Air India Express COO Pawan Arora

New Delhi: Pawan Arora, the embattled chief operating officer of Air India Express, has been removed from his post by the Union civil aviation ministry.
The orders for removal of Arora, one of the three men handpicked by COO of Air India Gustav Baldauf to turn around the airline, came late Friday evening.
Last year the airline had appointed Pawan Arora as COO of Air India Express, Stefan Sukumar as the chief of training and Kamaljeet Ratan as the head of corporate communications — and these appointments were seen strengthening the hands of Air India Baldauf.
Despite a series of objections emerging soon after his appointment, Arora was continuing with his duties as the COO of the low-cost arm.
Also, in the case of Sukumar, a two-member committee was set up to separately review his appointment after objections to his candidature, too, were received by the airline.
Airline sources now tell us that though the committee is yet to present its views, Sukumar has already begun facing trouble.
Last week, aviation regulator DGCA refused to hand over the FATA (Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authority) licence to Sukumar, saying it now wants documents supporting his claims of flying and training hours.
Sukumar has 4,000 hours of flying experience and 1,000 hours of training experience, mostly with foreign carriers including Lufthansa.
A civil aviation ministry official said that the ministry had found “nothing wrong” with Sukumar’s appointment and he had no idea about Sukumar facing any trouble.
12/02/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India Budget Feb 2011, Air India Feb 2011