JAVI do the right thing, on Monday put your papers in, resign.!
You were his pet boy!
You were part of the problem
You have been a Venom in sales
You licked ADs boots for this role
You slept with him
You contributed in everything (and his watch)
Do the Right thing, Leave..!
You have NO respect in sales
ETIHAD SHAREHOLDERS AND BOARD: IT IS TIME TO PAY ATTENTION.
This is not just about Arik. It is about the people enabling him, prioritizing personal loyalty, career advancement, and self-preservation over competence, integrity, and Etihad’s interests.
ARIK’S THREE BOYS: JAVI, WEI JIN, AND MARK.
1. JAVI: FROM MANAGER TO VP OF SALES, NOW WITH DIGITAL ADDED. WHY?
What measurable results justify these responsibilities? Is this about proven performance or preparing the next promotion to SVP?
There are also serious concerns about his ego and behavior toward his team. The perception that Arik will always protect him should never give anyone a sense of immunity or the right to treat colleagues with arrogance.
2. WEI JIN: ZERO RM BACKGROUND, YET APPOINTED VP OF RM AND PROMOTED TO SVP WITHIN A 1-2 YEARS. HOW?
What qualifications, relevant experience, and measurable achievements justified this progression? Where were HR and the CEO?
But the bigger concern is his leadership and the way employees are treated. Wei follows Arik’s instructions without independent judgment, with decisions about who gets promoted, transferred, sidelined, or fired seemingly driven by Arik’s preferences rather than objective performance, qualifications, or business needs.
Is this leadership, or simply doing whatever Arik wants?
Employees deserve managers who make fair, independent decisions not someone who appears to carry out another person’s wishes regardless of the consequences for the team.
Concerns have also been raised about Wei’s treatment of employees, including the use of inappropriate and abusive language. People deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not intimidated, humiliated, or treated like shit by the very leaders responsible for supporting them.
An SVP should build teams, develop talent, and create a professional environment not make employees fear for their jobs because they are not on the right person’s side.
3. MARK: WHAT EXACTLY IS HIS ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION?
What are his responsibilities, and what measurable value does he bring to Etihad? Every senior position should be justified by clear responsibilities, competence, and results.
AND THEN THERE IS THE QUESTION OF INTEGRITY.
Concerns have also been raised about senior leaders reporting directly to Arik, including SVP , VPs and directors , allegedly disclosing details of confidential investigations concerning him.
If people called to provide information in a confidential investigation immediately report back to the person being investigated, sharing what they were asked, is that integrity! or an attempt to protect their own positions and careers?
These allegations deserve serious scrutiny.
THE BIGGER PROBLEM IS ARIK’S DIRECT TEAM.
The concern is that almost all his direct reports appear to prioritize doing what he wants over what is right for Etihad, its employees, and the business with perhaps only one or two exceptions.
Leadership should mean having the courage to challenge a decision when it is wrong, not blindly following instructions to protect a position or secure the next promotion.
When personal loyalty takes priority over the company’s interests, everyone pays the price especially employees and the business itself.
ENOUGH WITH QUESTIONABLE PROMOTIONS. ENOUGH WITH BLIND LOYALTY. ENOUGH WITH TREATING EMPLOYEES AS DISPOSABLE.
Etihad deserves leaders who earn their positions through competence, integrity, and results not proximity to power.
The question is simple: Do qualifications, fairness, and performance still matter at Etihad, or has personal loyalty become the real path to success?
I’m confident there are more firsthand experiences involving Arik and his direct team. If you have a story to share, speak up. Let’s expose the truth together.
Javi was an M1 and few years ago, junior manager, spent a night with Kumar (in bed) and VP today with No experience…….. time to GO
did javier actually sleep with kumar?? everyone’s talking about it how do we know and is there evidence cuz this is major
honestly I’m just here for the tea did Javi or that one certain crew boy who randomly shows up at events with Arik or any other rainbow men at the company actually hook up with him??? please someone who knows spill
100% Javi sold his soul to A KUMAR D and pretty boy (cabin boy) now in NP
Wei - resign PLS, you worked with at air Asia
how about the plane costume boy getting promoted from analyst right after they were vibing in the green team at that event last year
There should be much greater scrutiny of why people have left the company over the years. More importantly, someone should actually look at the reasons behind those departures and the patterns in the feedback. Many employees have been too afraid to speak openly about their experiences because of the culture.
I also don’t see how the culture can meaningfully change while the same leadership structure and many of the same direct reports remain in place. Those behaviors and attitudes become embedded and are simply passed down.
There is also a clear perception that certain nationalities and people from particular professional networks receive preferential treatment-possibly because of connections from previous organisations. And the promotion process? Frankly, its hard to take it seriously when merit and performance dont always appear to be the deciding factors.
Now that Arik is gone, it’s time to hold the next level of leadership accountable. Ruaraidh Smeaton, Dani Ryan and others should be next. They encouraged Arik’s behaviour instead of providing independent leadership, and the brand is paying the price.
Review all promotions. How was Cristina promoted to Brand Lead in less than a year, despite limited experience leading an airline brand at this level? Questions about her reported family friendship with the ManCity CEO and whether that connection influenced her promotion demand transparency. How was a Head of RM promoted to Head of Marketing with zero experience? There are serious flaws in the promotion process. And if these are the candidates being promoted, they’ve lost everyone’s respect.
Dani and Ruaraidh need to be held accountable. Investigate the promotion decisions, and the toxic culture that drove good marketing people out.
There are still very talent people on the departnent, completely overlooked.
Bring in Emirati talent, restore meritocracy, and fix the brand. One departure means nothing if the same culture survives.
AyottolahDe’s monthly townhall ppt always included a slide with names of colleagues with birthdays that month.
Then he’d force his direct pets to publicly sing happy birthday as if they actually cared about anyone, let alone the person fired last week they forgot to remove from the list.
He acted like a dog pissing to claim his property, when farebrands were introduced to award tickets he couldnt resist breaking the 6th character naming convention to replace with his name.
‘V’ for Value was replaced with ‘A’, ‘C’ for Comfort replaced with ‘R’ and so forth. We spent two extra days to customize and ensure the ticket hierarchy lined up and spelled our Dear Leader’s name in one column.
I have much respect for the leaders that stood up to him, tried to shield as much as possible but when the camel’s back broke, they didn’t pass it onto their team but rather quit.
Chris H, Akhil, Mariya, Greg were amongst the real leaders that we wish back.
I remember him sometimes introducing himself as Eric instead of Arik and treating his middle name Kumar like a state secret lmao alright Arik Kumar De. He should’ve just gone with Eric De Souza or smth