CHENNAI/NEW DELHI
To those who don’t know him, Mittu Chandilya is a young rookie plucked out of thin air by Tony Fernandes to pilot AirAsia in India. But those familiar with the 32-year-old say the Malaysian entrepreneur of Indian origin is placing his trust in a confident and sure-footed young man.
Chandilya, who has MBA degrees from INSEAD in France and Singapore and from Tsinghua University in Beijing, went to school in India but has never worked in the country or with any airline before. A part-time model, he was most recently the head of services practice for Asia-Pacific at executive search firm Egon Zehnder. His previous work experience has included a stint at Ingersoll and a startup that he founded. He takes over as CEO on June 1.
However, his friends at Rishi Valley school in Andhra Pradesh – he studied there till Class X and was a year junior to BJP leader Varun Gandhi – are convinced that his inexperience in the sector will not hold him back.
Full report here Economic Times
