OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2011. Mr. Saroj Datta, the Executive Director and Board Member of Jet Airways since inception, completed his service tenure with the Company effective 30th September, 2011, bringing to close an illustrious career of over two decades with India's premier airline.

An internationally respected aviation stalwart, Saroj Datta, besides being a leading member of various airline committees, was a key member of the core team of Jet Airways, and had been assigned by the Chairman a pivotal role, along with his other colleagues in the Management, in laying the foundation of Jet Airways in the early 1990s. As the Executive Director of the airline since March 1993, Saroj Datta was instrumental in spearheading the airline's emergence as one of the country’s foremost global service brands and a premier international airline to emerge from India. Saroj Datta brought to bear his vast experience and in-depth understanding of the aviation industry, to ensure a clearer understanding by many of his colleagues of the basic economic principles and requirements of the aviation industry throughout the expanding workforce of the airline particularly during the initial decade. On many occasions, he also played an important role in various wage negotiations, including with his Pilot colleagues.

Saroj Datta also played a crucial role in assisting the Chairman and the legal team during the acquisition of Sahara Airlines in 2007. In fact, when the airline industry suffered a downturn globally, he worked in harmony with his colleagues in working out the details of the restructuring of the company, reducing costs through aircraft leasing and other ground - breaking measures. His wisdom, humility and personal touch, helped strengthen bonds with his colleagues in the Jet Airways team, all of whom hold him in high regard and esteem.

Lauding Saroj Datta's tireless services to Indian civil aviation at large and to Jet Airways in particular, Naresh Goyal, Chairman Jet Airways, said, “Saroj Datta has been a close friend of mine and an inspirational colleague at Jet Airways. His technical expertise in aviation matters, his zest to keep himself abreast of the latest developments in the aviation, the corporate and legal worlds, his high intellectual abilities, his eloquent writing skills and eye for detail coupled with his gentle, personal touch, have set him uniquely apart.” He always kept alive in himself and in all his team members, an almost missionary zeal to ensure that Jet Airways would straddle the continents as one of the world’s most preferred airlines and fulfill the mission that was laid down. A canny, skillful, yet empathetic negotiator, his vast networking has endeared him to airline managers globally.

Mr. Goyal added that “On behalf of the Board of Directors and all colleagues at Jet Airways, I would like to express our deepest thanks to Saroj Datta for his loyal and dedicated contribution to Jet Airways and to wish him good health and success in his future endeavours.”