Gary Toomey, who was at the helm of Air New Zealand when it nearly collapsed in 2001, has a job heading India's second-biggest airline, Jet Airways.
Toomey is an Australian whose nine months at Air New Zealand coincided with the collapse of Ansett Australia - an ill-fated investment made before he took over - and the resulting near-collapse of this country's airline.
The Government bailed it out with close to $1 billion and Toomey quit as the airline cut routes and laid off hundreds of staff.
Before he quit Toomey said that buying Ansett was "the most stupid mistake we made" and his public criticism of Air New Zealand's major shareholders, Brierley Investments and Singapore Airlines, during the last round of restructuring negotiations made him unpopular.
Controversy over his repeated pledges that Air New Zealand had $1 billion cash to keep Ansett operating - weeks before it collapsed - also severely affected his credibility and he had security guards posted to protect his home after hate mail and death threats following the Ansett closure.
