Kalanithi Maran takes control of SpiceJet; inducts four nominees on board

15 Nov 2010

Sun TV group chairman Kalanithi Maran has taken over as chairman of Spicejet while his wife Kaveri Kalanithi has joined as non-independent director on the board of the low-cost airline.
 
The board of Spicejet at its meeting today also approved the appointment of four nominees of Maran, S Sridharan, J Ravindran, Nicholas Martin Paul and M K Harinarayanan, as independent directors of the company with immediate effect.

With Maran and his associates raising their combined stake in Spicejet to 38.66 per cent, the board also accepted the resignation of B S Kansagra, Kishore Gupta, Mukkaram Jan and Vijay Kumar as directors of the company with immediate effect.

S Natrajhen will now take over as chief operating officer of Spicejet.

Neil Mills, former chief financial officer of West Asian low-cost start-up Flydubai is SpiceJet's new chief executive officer.

Spicejet, which recently launched its international operations with flights to Colombo and Kathmandu, is expected to announce plans to fly to other countries in the SAARC region as well.

SpiceJet, which had a 12.6 per cent share in the domestic market as of September, is also planning to increase its domestic air-connectivity to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.