Top aviation executive Sanjay Kumar is set to join IndiGo as chief strategy and revenue officer, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Mint.

Kumar, whose previous stint was at AirAsia India as the company's chief operating officer (COO), has worked at IndiGo as chief commercial officer between 2007 and 2018. At IndiGo, he was responsible for its aggressive domestic expansion during the last decade, which saw the airline achieve close to 50% of market share.

"He (Sanjay Kumar) is likely to join IndiGo later this week or early next week," said one of the people mentioned above.

An IndiGo spokesperson was not immediately available for comments.

Kumar, who has over 25 years of experience as aviation professional, joined AirAsia India, a joint venture between Tata Sons Pvt Ltd and Malaysia-based Air Asia Investment Ltd, on 3 December 2018 and left the airline a year later. Before AirAsia, Kumar headed network and commercial operations at India’s largest airline by market share, IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. He has also worked at SpiceJet and Air Sahara.

"The slew of expats hired at IndiGo following Sanjay Kumar's departure haven't quite worked out with the airline. The financial and operational performance of the airline, meanwhile, has dropped during the last few years," said the second person.