Southwest Airlines on 4 November disclosed the appointment of Rakesh Gangwal as independent chair of the company’s board of directors, filling the role left vacant by former executive chairman Gary Kelly. 

Kelly’s “accelerated retirement”, which came as six new directors were recently appointed to Southwest’s board, was effective 1 November. 

Southwest added Gangwal to its board in July, amid intensifying pressure from minority stakeholder Elliott Investment Management to embrace major leadership changes. 

A long-time airline executive, Gangwal is co-founder of India’s InterGlobe Aviation, which operates under the IndiGo airline brand. He will lead a new-look board of directors tasked with turning around Southwest’s string of disappointing financial results. 

”Our critical priority as a newly constituted board is to come together to work closely with [chief executive] Bob Jordan and the rest of the management team to return the carrier to superior financial performance,” Gangwal says. 

David Cush, Sarah Feinberg, Dave Grissen, Gregg Saretsky and Patricia Watson have been installed as independent directors of the board “in connection with cooperation and information-sharing agreements” with Elliott. 

Pierre Breber, formerly chief financial officer of Chevron, also recently joined the board. Southwest had disclosed earlier this year the appointment of Robert Fornaro, former CEO of Spirit Airlines. 

The turnover includes a “refreshed” finance committee, which is responsible for overseeing Southwest’s operational and strategic plans. 

Notably, the finance committee is now led by Saretsky, former CEO of Canada’s WestJet Airlines.  

Southwest made $67 million in the third quarter, a decrease of 65% as compared with the same period of last year. However, the carrier’s third-quarter revenue rose 5.3% to $6.9 billion.