you make a very good point blackbird
its hard to find people who know the way the nindustry works.
aviation/operations guys are just that, they dont know business.
the business guys dont know aviation.
thats why you need experienced people at the top who can at least train a good set of managers.
having said that, nothing is clean in our country. having good people and strategy is not enough. need to grease palms because the open sky is still not really open as you need approval for every single thing.
the present government in general and aviation ministry in particular is not interested in promoting growth and reform.
all the policies are restrictive, infrastructure is poor, costs are sky high..
the only silver lining is that paying public is there to buy your offrering if you can provide a good level of service ( which for indians translates to value for money above all else)
there are enough investors in the country to start and run airlines and enough pilots to fly the planes. no shortage of cabin crew and ground crew either.
all that is need is the stupid govt stops burning money on air india and just does its job of a regulator and enabler of safe air travel.