Chief executive officer of Jet Airways Nikos Kardassis resigned on Wednesday,just a little over two weeks after its shareholders approved a 24 per cent stake sale to Etihad.
In an announcement to the stock exchanges on Friday,Jet appointed Hameed Ali,the chief operating officer of the company as the acting CEO till the board identifies and appoints a new CEO.
Ali,who is a Bahrain national was also part of the team that worked out the deal with Etihad.
Kardassiss resignation is seen as a part of wider revamp of the airlines senior management subsequent to Etihad Airways investment. He has been on medical leave from April onwards.
As part of the deal Etihad will get a three-member representation on the board of Jet Airways,which will include Etihad CEO James Hogan.
Meanwhile,speculations are rife that Gary Toomey former chief executive of Ansett Airline could succeed to the corner room at Jet Airways. Toomey is currently associated with Etihad as a consultant. A Jet spokesperson did not reply to an SMS about Toomey.
In April this year,Etihad agreed to pick up a 24 percent in Jet Airways for about Rs 2,060 crore.
The deal is currently awaiting regulatory nod and will come up for clearance before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board next week.
Meanwhile as per Indian stock market regulations Jet made an offer for sale to to offload 5 per cent of the promoters share but it was not fully subscribed to. Next day it made up the difference through an open offer for the unsold portion.


