India’s Jet Airways hires Vipula Gunatilleka as new CFO

Jalan-Kalrock consortium-owned Jet Airways yesterday announced the appointment of former SriLankan Airlines CEO Vipula Gunatilleka as the Chief Financial Officer.

“We are excited to welcome Vipula Gunatilleka to our young and energetic team. Vipula is an aviation expert and regarded as a turnaround specialist in the industry.

“He has been shortlisted after a rigorous process run by our Executive Team over the last several months,” said Jet Airways Monitoring Committee Member and part of Jalan-Kalrock Consortium Ankit Jalan.

Gunatilleka served as the CEO of the SriLankan Airlines between August 2018 and January this year.

“I am certain Vipula will be an asset to the organisation and will provide the necessary vision to revive the operations of Jet Airways as per the plans of the Consortium,” Jalan added.

Prior to joining SriLankan Airlines, he was the CFO and Board Member of TAAG Angola Airlines from November 2015 to July 2018 under Emirates Management.

A qualified chartered accountant, Gunatilleka, played a pivotal role to turnaround the loss-making national carrier of Angola, it added.

He is known for his astute knowledge in aircraft financing, strategic planning, cost-efficient business modelling and openness to adopt hybrid models to keep business costs low and efficiency high, Jet Airways said.

Gunatilleka said: “I am very excited to join the company and I look forward to contributing my knowledge of the last 30 years in Jet Airways' resurgence in its new avatar. We will capitalise on the strong brand value which Jet Airways has in the market and use it to rebuild the lost ground.”