Top-level exit at Vistara as CIO resigns

The Tata Group and Singapore Airlines promoted Vistara sees a top-level exit with its Chief Information and Innovation Officer Ravinder Pal Singh resigning from the airline.
Confirming this development to ET, Vistara said Singh will be leaving the airline on January 15, 2021.

“ …Ravinder Pal Singh has decided to step down from his role at Vistara to pursue new interests, and his last working day at Vistara will be 15 January 2021. As a key member of the company's senior leadership, Ravinder has been instrumental in Vistara's success, having built a modern, world-class, robust technology foundation for the airline. I wish him every success in all his future endeavours,” the airline said in a statement quoting its CEO Leslie Thng.

This would be a second top level exit in the airline in a little over a year. In December 2019, its then Chief strategy and commercial officer Sanjiv Kapoor had resigned from the airline. Kapoor was replaced by Vinod Kannan, who took responsibilities of key revenue functions of the airline during a period, when COVID impacted and continued to impact airline companies across the globe.

While the airline has not announced Singh’s replacement yet, airline executives said that Singh has been instrumental in all the key technical endeavours of the airline, thus, providing an edge over its peers.

In an email to employees, Singh talked about the message from Vistara’s founding CEO Phee Teik Yeoh and hoped that the airline will continue to work with the same vision under the current CEO.

“We are a beautiful airline but not a perfect organisation, not yet! and I am sure all of you will strive to make Vistara Great, really-really Great Institution,” Singh’s mail to the employees read.

“Few years back, on his last working day an emotional Founding CEO (and my dear friend) told me that "... Ravi as founding CIO you need to ensure that Vistara's technology and innovation thoughtfulness creates a rich legacy which will be difficult if not possible to match in the near future.." I am certain that the current CEO and my successor will fulfil that vision and its hunger with unmatched zeal and excellence,” the email, seen by ET, read.

Vistara, which has a fleet of 45 aircraft, including 35 Airbus A320, two Airbus A321neo, six Boeing 737-800NG, and two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, is the second Indian airline apart from Air India with firm plans to connect various international destinations in Europe and Americas. The airline has recently announced flights to connect Germany to India under Bubble arrangements and has plans to connect other destinations in Europe too.