When news of the demise of Jet Airways’ former Executive Director Saroj
Datta in June reached Michael Mascarenhas, the former Managing Director
of Air India immediately recollected the days when the two had started
off their 46-year friendship.
Datta had joined Air India at a time when the airline attracted talent from the Ivy League universities. “Saroj was a product of Delhi School of Economics. He held his own and in a short time became a master at pool revenue sharing,” recalls Mascarenhas. Revenue sharing helps airlines to cover geographies where they don’t fly by routing traffic to their local peers.
Datta, who died in his Mumbai home at the age of 78, saw life in black and white. When differences with his seniors cropped on how to handle issues with a foreign airline, Datta quit the Maharaja in 1987.
Datta’s next career flight to Kuwait Airways was short-lived. “Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein did not know Saroj and invaded Kuwait,” says Mascarenhas, tongue firmly in cheek. “Saroj flew back to Mumbai without a job but within a few months joined Jet Airways,” adds the former Air India chief.
Paying tribute to his former colleague, Jet Airways’ Chairman Naresh Goyal in a statement said that Datta’s vision and commitment helped the company grow into India’s premier international airline. Old timers say that Datta worked on and drew up a concrete master plan, especially for international expansion, to make Jet the airline it is today.
Ravi Menon, Executive Director of aviation maintenance company Air Works, had known Datta since the 1970s and calls him his “go to” individual. “Once an engineer whom we had trained at enormous cost, left and joined Jet. Just a call to Datta, who was in Jet, was enough and the engineer Read news in full 01/07/15 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Lines
Datta had joined Air India at a time when the airline attracted talent from the Ivy League universities. “Saroj was a product of Delhi School of Economics. He held his own and in a short time became a master at pool revenue sharing,” recalls Mascarenhas. Revenue sharing helps airlines to cover geographies where they don’t fly by routing traffic to their local peers.
Datta, who died in his Mumbai home at the age of 78, saw life in black and white. When differences with his seniors cropped on how to handle issues with a foreign airline, Datta quit the Maharaja in 1987.
Datta’s next career flight to Kuwait Airways was short-lived. “Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein did not know Saroj and invaded Kuwait,” says Mascarenhas, tongue firmly in cheek. “Saroj flew back to Mumbai without a job but within a few months joined Jet Airways,” adds the former Air India chief.
Paying tribute to his former colleague, Jet Airways’ Chairman Naresh Goyal in a statement said that Datta’s vision and commitment helped the company grow into India’s premier international airline. Old timers say that Datta worked on and drew up a concrete master plan, especially for international expansion, to make Jet the airline it is today.
Ravi Menon, Executive Director of aviation maintenance company Air Works, had known Datta since the 1970s and calls him his “go to” individual. “Once an engineer whom we had trained at enormous cost, left and joined Jet. Just a call to Datta, who was in Jet, was enough and the engineer Read news in full 01/07/15 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Lines
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