I will grab all the opportunities coming my way...
Mr.
Naresh Goyal is truly a stalwart of not only the aviation sector in
India but is also a pioneering entrepreneur and one of the successful
faces of the Indian industry as a whole. His rise from very modest
beginnings to become one of the richest of our country is a compelling
story of success that illustrates in full force the traits unique to
such men of caliber.
From starting as a cashier / accountant for a
general sales agent (GSA) at a salary of Rs.300 to being the chairman of
the country's largest domestic private airline that boasts of flying to
52 domestic and 24 international destinations with fleet of 101
aircraft, employing about 14,000 people, and a personal net worth of
more than $2bn, this is one remarkable success story worthy of a mention
in inspirational folk-lore.
Early days
Mr. Goyal was born in Punjab (Sangrur) in 1949 to a successful
jewellery dealer. Even while he in his pre-teens, his family had to go
through some rough times financially, leading to a phase of hard-ships
for the young Naresh who, it is said, had to walk quite a distance to go
to his school as his family was not in a position to provide him with a
bi-cycle. He somehow scraped through that period by residing with his
maternal uncle, and completed his Bachelors in Commerce from Bikram
College of Commerce in Patiala.
Soon after, he joined his uncle's travel firm, East West Agencies,
which was a GSA for the Lebanese International Airlines, as a cashier.
He very quickly understood the functioning of the business and had, in
the process, acquired enough skills and experience to be able to move
ahead and work (as regional manager) with other reputed airlines of the
time such as Royal Jordanian and Philippine Airlines, in which positions
he handled their commercial operations in India. He also travelled
overseas extensively on business during this period. These stints
further added to his skill and knowledge of the aviation sector. During
this period, he also worked with the Indian offices of Middle Eastern
Airline, where he gained experience in various areas including
ticketing, reservations, and sales.
The spark
But, at heart he wasn't very inclined to remain an employee, as the
entrepreneur in him kept egging him to move on to higher things and
become a business leader rather than remain just an employee. So in
1974, it is said, he borrowed 500 pounds from his mother and floated
his own company, JetAir Private Limited (then known as Jetair
Transportation Private Ltd) that provided sales and marketing
representation to foreign airlines in India. The company served as GSA
to several foreign airlines; was tour operator; courier company (Aramex
courier) etc. Major Airlines represented by Jet Air (as GSA) were
Aeroflot, Air Canada, Air France, All Nippon, Austrian Airlines, Biman
Bangladesh, Gulf Air, Jet Airways (since inception), Lufthansa, Oman Air
and Royal Jordanian Singapore Airlines (although after Jet Airways
launched its international operations, most of the carriers withdrew GSA
rights from Jet Air).
Not the one to be satisfied with this, he was always keen on getting
himself to acquaint with the intricate details of the functioning of the
sector. As a result, right since the inception of his company, Mr.
Goyal got himself involved in the development of traffic patterns, route
structures, operational economics and flight scheduling, all of which,
over time, have made him an authority in the world of aviation and
travel.
In 1991, with the opening of the Indian economy and the enunciation of
the Open Skies Policy by the Government of India, the Indian aviation
market also began to open up as the government allowed private carriers
to fly. Seizing such an opportunity, in the year 1992, Mr. Goyal decided
to add wings to his flight by taking the major step of setting up his
own airline, jet airways, with backing from Gulf air and Kuwaiti air.
The Ascent
There was no looking back for the company (operations commenced from
May 1993) which initially operated as an air taxi operator with four
leased Boeing 737s in the first months of operations.
What set apart the new airlines in the opened aviation market of the
1990s was the way they, especially Jet, functioned and delivered their
services. As is known, the hereto operated state-owned airlines had
reputations for atrocious service standards and frequent delays or
cancellations. Jet was one of many new airlines to be approved to start
services in a first wave of deregulation in the country, which used this
state of affairs to best its business prospects.
Over time, the airline went on to add destinations, aircraft of its own
to the fleet, and millions of satisfied customers, helping make air
travel more accessible to the masses in a country of more than a billion
people and creating a respected full-service airline that employed
thousands, and in the process establishing it as one of the most
preferred airline both domestic as well as internationally. It is a
credit to Mr. Goyal's leadership that the company has been the recipient
of one award or the other every year (excepting 1999) right since its
inception.
Right since the early days of Jet Airways, Mr. Goyal had emphasized on
the need for innovation and thus leading the company to come up with
many novel and efficient procedures of functioning, and earning the
reputation of being an innovator and a trendsetter in the Indian airline
industry. The airline has pioneered concepts like Through-Check-in,
City Check-in, Web and Kiosk check-in, SMS check-in, automated tickets
at travel agency locations, e-ticketing, JetMobile and the unique
five-tier frequent flier programme JetPrivilege in India.
In order to consolidate the company's position in the domestic market
as well as to ward of any possible threat from international airline
companies entering the domestic market, one of the plans contemplated
was to increase the market share of Jet in the Indian airspace. There
was also a need to be able to sustain, if not counter them, in the field
of low-cost operators. Therefore, Mr. Goyal decided to acquire the
reasonably successful yet problem-stricken Air-Sahara. So, he put in his
bid with all others (including Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher) when it was
up for sale in 2005. The acquisition ran in trouble in the face of many
likely as well as unlikely obstacles (discussed at length in so many
articles and journals elsewhere) and, he had to stall the process. But
it was, by no means, called off entirely. So, in 2007 he resumed work on
the acquisition and, ultimately, completed the formalities for a
reported sum of Rs. 2,200 Crore, which was believed to be way above the
next best quoted by Vjiay Mallya (around Rs. 500 crore). He called it
JetLite and decided to run it as a subsidiary.
JetKonnect with the inclusion of JetLite was started as the all-economy
class while still providing the same world-class Jet Aiways experience,
on specific routes and timings.
While there has been quite of bit of air on the way funds were
arranged for starting up the airlines, which have not been cleared even
up to this day, the fact remains that Mr. Goyal had been very
instrumental in keeping the hopes of the aviation industry alive with
the decent success of jet Airways. Especially, when a host of other
entrants that started with Jet were shut-down or are in a quagmire of
sorts owing to the downturn in the world economy as indeed the steep
rise in operational and maintenance costs.
With his vast experience in the field of aviation, Mr. Goyal
currently serves on the prestigious International Air Transport
Association (IATA) Board of Governors for the year 2009-2010, having
earlier served on the Board from 2008 - 2009 and 2004-2006.
With Mr. Goyal at the forefront of its operations, technological
innovation has also been an integral part of Jet Airways business
strategy. Focussing on use of cutting edge technology to enhance guest
experience by implementing innovative products and thus ensuring a
seamless customer experience has been the hallmark of Jet and it's
emergence as the leading domestic airline of India.
No wonder, the company has so many firsts to its credit; some of which are:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Family
Mr. Goyal is married to Ms. Anita Goyal, who herself serves as EVP,
Network Planning and Revenue Management for the airline. They have two
children; daughter Namrata joined the company as a trainee, while son
Nivaan is pursuing his studies. The family live in London with Mr. Goyal
having received his British citizenship (in 1991), although he spends
about 10 days in a month in their Mumbai house which had the great
pioneer of the Indian aviation industry, JRD Tata, was one of the
neighbours, when Mr. Goyal was aspiring to start the airline.
To the community
Recognising its responsibility to the Society and Nation, Jet Airways
launched its Yellow Rose campaign in 1998. The philosophy being that
people are like roses, and like the flower they require friendship,
warmth and caring. Therefore, Jet Airways has striven not only to extend
these qualities to its passengers, but also to the country in times of
crises or calamities.
As part of its activities and services under Yellow Rose, the company
had undertaken many blood donation camps and relief efforts in
calamity-hit areas such as Tamil Nadu Pondicherry, Gujarat, Jammu &
Kashmir which had been ravaged by tsunami and earthquakes. The
modus-operandi varies from in-light fund collections through a programme
called "Magic Box" to support the various initiatives in addition to
using eco-friendly products in the airline, made by post-school children
of underprivileged communities who are trained by NGOs.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
