Mumbai: For Naresh Goyal, the founder of Jet Airways, the success of 'Operation Sand Dunes' was the lifeline to save his airline. Operation Sand Dunes — the codename coined for the Jet-Etihad deal, valued at $600 million — would eventually take about nine months to consummate. And one key emissary, whom he relied during those crucial days and months, was his confidante — the genial looking Captain Hameed Ali, the then chief operating officer of Jet Airways, who was holed up in Abu Dhabi, the headquarters of Etihad Airways.
Ali was at hand to iron out differences and gain the confidence of their prospective partner — Etihad. Ali, a professional pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flying on various Jets, Tristar L1011, Boeing 767/737 and Airbus aircraft, ranging from 320s to 330s and 340s, helped Goyal navigate the squalls that frequently threatened to disrupt the deal. It was a tough act, as his Indian boss was a tough negotiator, who never gave an inch without a fight, and the Australian counterparts from Etihad who were equally pugnacious and did not relent without a proper barter. "Nobody would envy him (Hameed Ali)," a source later told us, after the deal was announced.
10/06/13 Satish John & M Padmakshan/Economic Times
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Ali was at hand to iron out differences and gain the confidence of their prospective partner — Etihad. Ali, a professional pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flying on various Jets, Tristar L1011, Boeing 767/737 and Airbus aircraft, ranging from 320s to 330s and 340s, helped Goyal navigate the squalls that frequently threatened to disrupt the deal. It was a tough act, as his Indian boss was a tough negotiator, who never gave an inch without a fight, and the Australian counterparts from Etihad who were equally pugnacious and did not relent without a proper barter. "Nobody would envy him (Hameed Ali)," a source later told us, after the deal was announced.
10/06/13 Satish John & M Padmakshan/Economic Times
