Jeh Wadia has resigned as Managing Director of GoAir after three years of piloting the low-cost carrier. Wadia will continue to be the promoter of the company.
“With the goal of taking GoAir to its next phase of growth, the promoters of the company and its Board came together to formulate a long-term plan. Amongst other initiatives, a key element of this plan, forged over weeks of discussions and consultation, was to further strengthen the management of the company by bringing on-board proven industry professionals, a strategy that has worked well for the group in its other ventures including Britannia,” the company said in a statement.
Ben Baldanza, who has been an advisor to the company from 2018 and director since 2019, will now be the as Vice-Chairman of the GoAir board.
Baldanza is an airline industry veteran of several decades, having worked in American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines among others, before becoming the CEO of Spirit Airlines in 2006. He repositioned Spirit Airlines into the first ULCC in the North Americas and increased its fleet from 32 to 100.
As a result of his efforts, Spirit Airline achieved the highest profitability among all airlines in the US between 2008 and 2015. He also took the company public by successfully leading its IPO in 2011.
Baldanza, as Vice-Chairman, will now work directly with the management team, comprising of Kaushik Khona – CEO and Pankaj Chaturvedi – CFO, in the next growth phase of GoAir into making it India’s first ULCC.
Speaking on behalf of the promoter family, Nusli Wadia said, “We are happy that Ben has accepted the position of Vice-Chairman. His experience in creating the first ULCC in US, turning it profitable and successfully leading its IPO are of great value, as GoAir embarks on the next phase of its growth journey”.
The change of guard comes at a time when GoAir is going through a financial crisis. GoAir’s poor financial health and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have led the low-cost carrier’s independent auditors to cast doubts on whether it can sustain itself as a going concern.
According to regulatory filings, reviewed by BusinessLine , during FY20 GoAir’s operating revenues increased 11.73 per cent to ₹6,997.07 crore (₹6,262.44 crore). But its EBITDA tumbled 59.24 per cent to ₹114.38 crore (₹280.65 crore). These documents were sourced from Tofler.
However, its total expenses rose to ₹8,280 crore (₹6,559.49 crore). The company had a negative net worth of ₹1,500.98 crore, and its current liabilities exceeded its current assets by ₹3,333.53 crore.