TBM Staff - Mumbai Jalan Kalrock consortium, the promoters of Jet Airways, have appointed Vipula Gunatilleka as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the airline. He has been tasked with reviving the grounded carrier.
Gunatilleka, who till last month, was the CEO of SriLankan Airlines, will join Jet Airways from March 1, 2022 onwards.
Considered as a “turnaround specialist” and an aviation expert, Gunatilleka had overseen “the most daunting task of leading SriLankan Airlines during the pandemic. Gunatilleka was head hunted by the board in 2018 to re-structure SriLankan Airlines and in less than two years after assuming the duties as the CEO, the airline recorded positive EBITDA and cash flow for 2019-20 notwithstanding the devastating effects of the terror attacks in April 2019 in Sri Lanka followed by the global pandemic in early 2020,” a statement issued by Jet Airways said.
Ankit Jalan, member of the monitoring committee of Jet Airways and part of Jalan-Kalrock Consortium said, “We are excited to welcome Vipula Gunatilleka to our young and energic team . Vipula is an aviation expert and regarded as a turnaround specialist in the industry. He has been shortlisted after a rigorous process run by our executive team over the last several months. I am certain Vipula will be an asset to the organisation and will provide the necessary vision to revive the operations of Jet Airways as per the plans of the consortium.”
Speaking on his plans for Jet Airways, Gunatilleka said, “I am very excited to join the company and I look forward to contributing my knowledge of last 30 years in Jet Airways’ resurgence in its new avatar. We will capitalise on the strong brand value which Jet Airways has in the market and use it to re-build the lost ground.” (Source NDTV)
