India's burgeoning aviation sector is facing a talent crunch, as is evident from seven former executives of Jet Airways returning to the company within a short span of six months.
The latest to rejoin the full-service carrier is Narayan Hariharan, who joined as senior vice-president a few weeks ago.
Hariharan had worked in the office of Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal during his previous stint at India's second largest by passengers carried. He had quit his job at Jet Airways in 2008 to join the Adani Group.
Other top executives who have rejoined the company include A.S. Bedi (vice-president, security); Hassan Al Mousawi (senior vice-president, safety and quality); Vinod Sarin (vice-president, projects); V. Raja (regional head, South India); Jayaraj Shanmugham (senior vice-president, customer services) and Santhosh Chalke (vice-president, industrial relations).
"Goyal realizes that he had lost more than dozen executives who were with him in his troubled times with experiences of more than two decades. He is trying to correct it," a source familiar with the development told Livemint, requesting anonymity.
Apparently, an experienced hand is hard to come by in the sector and this is compelling air carriers to accept their former employees.
"There are limited options out there for talent. It is not (just) Jet Airways; many organizations, international and local, have the practice of accepting their old talent as it is more comfortable to work with them," said K. Sudarshan, managing partner (Asia) with EMA Partners International .
The airline promoted by Goyal saw 6 million international passengers travelling on its flights during the 2014-15 financial year, becoming the largest carrier in terms of international traffic from India, according to aviation consulting firm Capa India.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways had bought a 24% stake in Jet Airways in 2013 for $332 million).
