Jet Airways, which is in the midst of setting up a strategic alliance with Etihad Airways at the moment, has gone ahead and appointed Gary Kenneth Toomey as their new CEO. Just last week, their CEO for five years, Nikos Kardassis had resigned and it was being reported for a while that Gary was the frontrunner for this position for a while.

Gary, who has been a CEO at Air New Zealand, and before that the deputy CEO & CFO at Qantas, has a track record in domestic and international airline management, and I hope he’ll be able to work on the integration of Etihad and Jet Airways well, and lead its international expansion going forward.

For me as a customer, the biggest challenge with keeping Jet Airways as my preferred airline of choice at the moment is that they can’t get me to everywhere I want to go, and since they are not in an alliance, I can’t get the benefit of going places just by being loyal to one airline. I hope Gary is able to take decisions for me which will fix this situation.

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The Jet Airways alliance with Etihad is quietly taking shape, with Jet Airways & Etihad awaiting approval from the Indian Government to take the deal forward. Jet Airways has already restructured its equity capital to be ready for the Etihad investment for 24% equity stake.

The cooperation between the two airlines is already beginning to take shape, however. Jet Airways has asked for newer codeshare arrangements, to market Etihad flights to European cities such as Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan, Geneva, Istanbul and Dublin. They have also sought permission to codeshare on flights to Nairobi, Johannesburg and cities in the USA.

On the other hand, however, Etihad is gunning for top management changes to make sure Jet Airways is fit and fine for its next big leap. The arrangement between both parties included Etihad’s right to bring in three new board members, including a new CEO.

As per the airline, Nikos Kardassis, the CEO at Jet Airways for about 5 years now, has quit the company earlier this week. This will clear the way for Etihad to install a new CEO at the airline. Next in line rumoured to go would be the Head of Network Planning & Revenue Management, Mrs. Anita Goyal.

Nikos Kardassis was one key contributor for the success of the airline, and this was his second term around here. He initially headed the airline as its CEO from 1994-1999 and then came back to be CEO again in 2009 till date.

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Earlier this week, I’d put out a giveaway for Jet Airways silicon luggage tag, for one of the readers who could tell me about their memorable experiences with the airline. I just wanted to remind you all that there are still about 12 hours to go for the giveaway to close, so you could head here and put your answers in the comments section to be eligible. Remember, you have to tell me about your best travel experience with Jet Airways. And if you’re off topic, you are not qualifying.

For everyone else, there are free AwardWallet accounts.

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