During his time at Etihad he didn’t give a damn about the airline itself. The only thing he cared about was building his own personal brand and making himself look like some kind of visionary leader on linkedin. All those ridiculous new routes that kept getting launched aggressively only to be shut down a few months later say a lot. It felt like some of those decisions were made just so he could post about launching new destinations and take credit for them, only for the airline to be left dealing with the consequences. It was all about the optics, the posts and feeding his own ego. The guy got fired and he was still trying to make it look like his team had thrown him a farewell party by posting an old photo on linkedin, pathetic.
You can understand just how unhinged this man is from the fact that even on the day he was fired and escorted out of the building he was still trying to make it look like his team had thrown a hearthfelt farewell by posting an old photo on linkedin. The fake linkedin account he used to leave comments under his own posts praising himself as an amazing leader says everything you need to know about him. So does paying for his own birthday cake with his own credit card and then making it look like his team had surprised him because he was such a beloved leader. The guy was literally a walking PR campaign with absolutely nothing behind it.
When he was finally kicked out people across the company were genuinely happy. Just reading the comments people are leaving here tells you a lot about what he was really like behind the carefully curated image.
You know what they say: the easiest way to destroy an institution is to put the wrong person at the top and let him run it into the ground.
Enter Arik KUMAR De.
An ABCDesi whose leadership deserves scrutiny as manipulation, intimidation, corporate theatre, and an extraordinary obsession with controlling the narrative.
And let’s not forget the curious disappearance of that middle name. KUMAR. A perfectly respectable name, yet one that rarely seems to make an appearance in his professional identity. Why, Arik KUMAR De?
Mr. Arik KUMAR De appears to have mastered one particular discipline: the art of corporate puppetmastery.
The allegations surrounding Arik KUMAR De’s leadership paint a deeply troubling picture: questionable performance figures, bullying, gaslighting, manipulation, and a culture in which personal loyalty allegedly mattered more than competence.
His supposed signature move?
Make a questionable decision. Create an entirely avoidable problem. Watch as the organisation wastes valuable time, resources, and effort trying to resolve the chaos. Then, just when everyone is scrambling for a solution, Arik KUMAR De makes his grand entrance as the corporate saviour.
And what is his brilliant solution?
To reverse the very decision he forced in the first place.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Arik KUMAR De manufactures the problem, allows everyone else to deal with the consequences, and then expects recognition for undoing his own mistake.
A remarkable talent: manufacturing a crisis, exhausting the organisation’s resources, and then presenting common sense as a groundbreaking leadership achievement.
Apparently, at the Arik KUMAR De School of Management, fixing your own mistakes isn’t accountability. It’s innovation. Arik KUMAR De: creating the crisis, manufacturing the rescue, and expecting a standing ovation for both.
And then there’s the alleged intelligence network. People recruited to circulate rumours, collect gossip, and report back to the self-appointed mastermind. Apparently, running a commercial organisation wasn’t enough for Arik KUMAR De. He needed his very own intelligence agency.
The most extraordinary part is the apparent belief that nobody notices. That Arik KUMAR De is somehow the smartest person in every room, operating in plain sight, untouchable and several moves ahead of everyone else. But confusing manipulation with intelligence is perhaps the greatest illusion of all.
And apparently, the performance continued right up to the final curtain. Even at the very end, you couldn’t resist controlling the narrative, could you, Arik KUMAR De ;)?
That LinkedIn farewell post deserves a special mention. A photograph reportedly taken during a forced birthday celebration LAST YEAR, repackaged as though it were a heartfelt farewell. How convenient. Was it really a farewell, Arik KUMAR De ;)? Or another carefully manufactured piece of corporate theatre designed to disguise the actual circumstances of your departure ;)?
There are serious questions about whether your exit was voluntary, particularly given the accounts circulating about your previous departures (FIRED) from other airlines. The aviation industry is a small world, Arik KUMAR De. A very small world. People talk. Professional histories follow people. And a polished LinkedIn post does not automatically rewrite the circumstances of a departure. You can change the caption, Arik KUMAR De. You can recycle the photograph. You can even try to reinvent the occasion.
But changing the story doesn’t change what actually happened. And what about the people allegedly bullied, humiliated, intimidated, traumatised, or pushed out along the way? Who answers for the damage to their careers, reputations, confidence, and well-being? Who takes responsibility for the human cost of this supposed leadership genius?
Because the most disturbing allegations concerning Arik KUMAR De are not about corporate politics or personal vanity. They concern the potential psychological and emotional harm inflicted on other people. If substantiated, such conduct would raise fundamental questions about Arik KUMAR De’s fitness to lead and the responsibility of organisations to protect employees from harmful behaviour.
Leadership should never leave people frightened, humiliated, or psychologically distressed. And the damage caused by destructive leadership does not magically disappear when the person responsible leaves the building. The deeper concern is the extent to which Arik KUMAR De’s influence may have become embedded within Etihad’s commercial structure. With numerous former direct reports and their own teams reportedly recruited during his tenure, questions arise about the long-term consequences of those appointments. Were people selected for their competence, experience, and ability to deliver? Or was personal loyalty the more valuable qualification? Restoring confidence, accountability, and merit-based appointments may take considerable time.
Because rebuilding an institution’s culture is considerably harder than surrounding yourself with people who agree with you.
And we haven’t even reached the supporting cast. A VP of Sales with zero Sales experience. How convenient. A VP of Commercial Enablement and Engagement — a title so wonderfully vague that one wonders whether anyone can explain what it actually enables. And then there’s the reported promotion record. Six promotions. Three years. Six. At that pace, even the corporate elevator must be exhausted. One has to wonder what extraordinary achievements justified such rapid advancement and whether the same opportunities were available to equally qualified colleagues. Btw this VP is also known as VP of Sambosas. Because apparently nothing says commercial enablement quite like celebrating another extraordinary corporate achievement over a plate of sambosas. Forget revenue growth, organisational capability, sustainable commercial performance, or genuine leadership. The real performance indicator seems to be how quickly the next tray of sambosas arrives.
Perhaps Arik KUMAR De should have introduced a new corporate KPI: KUMAR Performance Indicator — Sambosas Consumed Per Promotion. At least that would be a metric everyone could independently verify. And unlike disputed commercial performance figures, the sambosas would actually be visible.
Ultimately, the issue is bigger than Arik KUMAR De. It’s about what happens when an organisation allows a culture of fear, favouritism, questionable accountability, and personal loyalty to take precedence over integrity and competence. It’s about the employees whose concerns deserve to be heard. It’s about the people whose careers may have been affected. And it’s about ensuring that no individual, regardless of title, position, or influence, is ever considered beyond accountability. Leadership is not puppetmastery. Intimidation is not authority. Manipulation is not intelligence. A carefully curated LinkedIn post is not the truth simply because it has a photograph attached. And surrounding yourself with loyalists does not make you a visionary. So, Arik KUMAR De, enjoy the sambosas. We KNOW you’re reading this ;)!
No amount of corporate theatre, recycled birthday photographs, manufactured applause, or celebratory sambosas can substitute for genuine leadership.
The curtain has fallen, Arik KUMAR De.
Also, now that he is gone, can the vendetta against former employees stop and our former employees staff travel benefits be reinstated as they once were? Removal of the yearly confirmed ticket, tripling the price of former employees tickets!! How was he even allowed to make changes on benefits of people he has never met? On people who have contributed to the company for more than 10 years and definitely contributed more than he did!
It it not just Arik Kumar De that has ran Etihad’s reputation into the ground. His decisions and behaviors are unbecoming for the flag carrier of a proud country of the UAE. His appointment of Danielle Ryan as the marketing head for the national carrier of our country is not Emirati and doesn’t understand the local culture here is big disappoinment
EY’s board needs to take a serious look internally. Arik leaving is not enough. There are several serious questions that need to be investigated.
First, HR and Ethics & Compliance. How is it possible that people at every level were reportedly telling HR during exit interviews that they were leaving because of Arik’s management style, the turnover rate was insanely high and people were leaving before even completing two years, yet absolutely nothing was done? I’ve never seen another company where so many people couldn’t wait to get out. And what happened when the linkedin scandal came out? How was that just swept under the rug while he was allowed to stay? There were employee satisfaction surveys over and over again with absolutely terrible results. What exactly did HR do about any of this? All the red flags were there. I even clearly remember a situation where employee satisfaction and engagement scores were so low that employees were basically told off and given the impression that if they didn’t like it they could just leave.
Second, every single person who received an unexpected promotion, a double promotion or was seemingly fast-tracked into a position during Arik’s time should be looked into. Was it actually based on merit, or was it because they were close to him, he liked them or they knew how to play the game? Dani, Javi, Adria and managers at every level also need to be held accountable for the role they played in allowing this culture to become what it was. You can’t spend years enabling, normalizing and benefiting from a toxic environment and then pretend you had nothing to do with it. They helped sustain this culture and they shouldn’t get a free pass just because Arik is gone.
Third, there have been far too many rumours about inappropriate relationships involving Arik and younger male employees, as well as cabin crew, for these concerns to simply be ignored. These allegations need to be handled properly and independently. The nepotism and apparent favouritism ran deep, with people seemingly being promoted into management based on personal preferences and even physical appearance rather than qualifications and merit. Every suspicious promotion and appointment needs to be reviewed.
Getting rid of one person doesn’t fix a culture that an entire organization helped create and maintain. If they are genuinely serious about accountability and rebuilding trust, they need to look at the people who enabled him, the HR failures that allowed this to continue and the promotion decisions that helped him surround himself with people who wouldn’t challenge him. Otherwise nothing will really change.
Lack of controls and oversight on senior management has always been a problem in that airline. The issue certainly isn't limited to one department. Get on the wrong side of the prevailing 'family' and show some integrity your done for. With no staff association or unions the price is impossible to challenge. A root and branch clear out is required.
A few things about Arik that people may find interesting.
His middle name is Kumar, which he kept like some big secret. Funny, isn’t it? I also clearly remember him trying to convince people that he was Swedish. Why are you so ashamed of where you come from, Arik Kumar?
On the floor where his office was, there is a board covered mostly with pictures of himself and selfies from his travels. I mean, that’s the level of self-obsession.
He also had this little show he would put on where he put new joiners on the hot seat in front of the entire company. He would ask them all sorts of ridiculous questions, sometimes openly racist ones, especially to people of Asian background and expect everyone to laugh. Imagine joining a company and being introduced to this kind of culture within your first couple of weeks. Welcome to Etihad.
He had all-hands meetings, were basically his personal show. Just one random example that comes to mind, he once talked about how he called a senior executive in the middle of the night and told him to fly a newly launched 15-hour US route the very next day for marketing purposes. Mind you, the guy’s wife was pregnant, but of course saying no to Arik was never really an option. Arik presented this as an example of the guy’s dedication and expected the whole company to applaud him. Imagine turning your employee’s inability to say no to you into a heroic story about dedication. This was how you climb the corporate ladder fast here.
He once had a massive birthday cake ordered for himself and arranged the whole thing, then acted like it was a surprise from his employees because they loved him so much. I honestly can’t decide if that’s hilarious or deeply concerning.
In his free time he creates fake linkedin accounts to praise himself and trash people he dislikes. He isn't even smart enough to realize that anyone who clicked on his fake account could see his entire comment history and activity and easily figure out it was him. What an absolute genius.
It’s truly incredible that it’s taken this long. It seems the Dr is next and, with the shareholder investigations ongoing, perhaps more C-suite oustings to be announced soon.
The new shareholder group is apparently keen to get Tony Douglas and his team back to fix the airline for a second time, but with Riyadh Air now launched and quickly ramping up,
I can’t imagine why anyone would come back to fix EY again.
Arik De’s management at Etihad deserves serious scrutiny. The decisions made under his leadership, alongside those of Dani Ryan and Ruaraidh Smeaton, raise serious concerns about accountability, professionalism, and the treatment of talented employees.
To this day, there needs to be a thorough review of recent promotions, including out-of-cycle promotions, to establish whether HR policies are being applied fairly and consistently. Ruaraidh Smeaton’s promotion decisions, including Cris’s rapid progression from Brand Manager to Brand Lead in less than a year, raise legitimate questions about transparency and merit.
The treatment of Greg, a highly respected aviation professional who knew how to lead a team, is equally concerning. Meanwhile, talented people have left Brand and Marketing, taking valuable experience with them.
A leadership title does not equal leadership ability. When promotions are questioned, experienced people leave, and trust in management erodes, accountability cannot be optional. Etihad needs an independent review of leadership decisions, promotion practices, and whether personal connections are influencing outcomes. HR rules must apply equally to everyone, regardless of who they know.
Etihad’s only purpose was to put AUH on global map with its hospitality and true image like Emirates did for Dubai.
Look what is happening with in the company and whole leadership was tolerating it, means they are part of it.
I don't think any of these top executives (the ones who think they're so smart) have the capacity to understand the power of the media or how dangerous years of built up employee resentment can become. Remember that couple who went viral at the Coldplay concert? There are such scandalous things about this guy that all it takes is for one person to go on social media and post a video for everything to blow up and the company's entire reputation is gone. That’s how close Etihad is to becoming a massive worldwide scandal. And somehow these people still think they have everything under control.
Looks like the card castle is going to fall apart soon... waiting for the next ones to drop...
He facetunes his pics on instagram lol
He facetunes his pics on instagram lol
Look at the people who climbed the ranks unusually fast during his time. They seem to have one thing in common: either they’re good looking males or they’re homosexual. I think not enough people are talking about the rumours that have been circulating internally for ages that he ALLEGEDLY slept with people in exchange for promotions and passed STDs.
There were numerous serious issues and questionable decisions at Etihad under Arik De’s leadership, ranging from arbitrary promotions of favoured individuals to Greg’s removal from his position, despite being one of the most respected and professional people in the industry.
There was also the appointment of the new lady in Marketing and the damage that followed, as well as the appointment of close associates to managerial positions despite lacking the necessary experience, competence, and educational qualifications
Another example was the appointment of a woman from Revenue Management to a senior Head-level position in Marketing. It raises a legitimate question: what relevant Marketing experience and expertise qualified her for such a sensitive, senior role? Appointments at this level should be based on proven expertise, relevant experience, and the ability to deliver results, rather than questionable management decisions.
Consider some of the decisions that affected individual employees at Etihad. Imagine a Regional General Manager in Europe being dismissed suddenly, without any prior warning, without having committed any wrongdoing, and with no performance issues whatsoever, simply because he was not favoured by Mr. Arik Kumar
Similarly, the Regional General Manager for the East was dismissed overnight, despite having an excellent reputation both within Etihad and across the wider aviation industry. He was also highly respected and well-liked within the company by his colleagues and team members alike.
Another senior Sales professional, working in the Sales deptartemt, was replaced despite having served as General Manager for Lavant and Africa. He was single-handedly managing many countries across the regions. Yet he was replaced by someone who lacked even the most basic understanding of Sales. He was pushed aside and replaced by a woman with virtually no Sales experience, who had never even been out in the market or attended a single Sales meeting throughout her career
How many people joined the company only to leave within less than a year because of the toxic working environment? How much talent and valuable experience has Etihad lost as a result?
These were professionals who had weathered every challenge Etihad faced over the past 10 years. They stood firm through difficult times, restructuring, re evaluating, covid, demonstrating their resilience, capabilities, and deep industry expertise. Losing such people simply to satisfy Mr. Arik Kumar’s ego is truly regrettable
One of the immediate corrective measures the company should take is to reinstate all employees who were adversely affected by the decisions of this management, including those in Marketing, Revenue Management, Sales, and Alliances. Etihad needs to acknowledge the damage caused, restore fairness and accountability, and bring back the talent it should never have lost in the first place.