IndiGo appoints former AI Express MD Aloke Singh as Chief Strategy Officer
New Delhi (PTI): The country's largest airline IndiGo on Monday announced the appointment of former Air India Express Managing Director Aloke Singh as its Chief Strategy Officer.
The appointment comes two weeks after the sudden resignation of IndiGo's CEO Pieter Elbers.
Singh, an aviation industry veteran who led Air India Express for over five years, will now report to IndiGo's Managing Director Rahul Bhatia. Once the new CEO takes over, Singh will start reporting to that person.
The board of InterGlobe Aviation, which operates the airline under the name IndiGo, approved Singh's appointment on Monday.
On March 2, Singh told the Air India Express staff that he was departing the airline after his tenure ends on March 19.
"Singh will lead the company's long-term strategic planning function and drive enterprise-wide transformation initiatives focused on accelerating growth, enhancing operational efficiency and strengthening competitive positioning in a rapidly evolving global aviation landscape.
"He will partner closely with the leadership team on cross-functional priorities designed to improve agility, elevate customer experience and deliver sustainable shareholder value," IndiGo said in a statement on Monday.
Bhatia said Singh brings an exceptional blend of strategic vision and operational depth.
"His comprehensive understanding of the aviation ecosystem will be invaluable as we build a more agile, resilient and future-ready organisation, and accelerate our next phase of growth. For now, Aloke will report to me. Once the next CEO assumes office, he will transition to reporting to the new Chief Executive," Bhatia said.
Singh had served at Air India Express as Managing Director and as Chief Executive Officer. He has also held senior leadership positions at Air India and Oman Air.
“I am delighted to join IndiGo at such a pivotal moment for the airline and for Indian aviation broadly. Having redefined India’s domestic and short-haul international aviation landscape, IndiGo is taking its ambitions global.
"I look forward to working with colleagues across the organisation to sharpen our strategic direction, double down on operational excellence and deepen and broaden our markets," Singh said in the statement.
In a message to the staff, Bhatia said Singh would lead the company's mid-to-long-term strategic planning function and drive transformation initiatives focused on accelerating growth, enhancing operational efficiencies and elevating customer experience.
According to Bhatia, Singh would be responsible for synchronising network/ product evolution with the fleet plan, driving long-term strategic projects, including the entry-into-service of the A350-900 into the airline's fleet and the development of hub airports in India to support the global aspirations.
Singh has the distinction of helming Air India Express, which has significantly expanded its operations under the ownership of the government, as well as the Tata Group. Also, his departure will mark a top-level change at the airline after coming under the Tata Group in January 2022.
He joined the then government-owned Air India Express as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on November 9, 2020, and was appointed as the MD for a three-year period on March 19, 2023.
Meanwhile, Pieter Elbers quit as IndiGo CEO citing personal reasons on March 10, and the country's largest airline has relieved him with immediate effect, a development that came three months after massive operational disruptions triggered widespread public outrage and regulatory actions.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
