After he had taken over the Mumbai challenge in 2006, Vercelli had said he would strive to make the airport India’s gateway to the world. “I think it will be fitting to have the new gateway in the city where the original Gateway of India stands,” he had said.

His departure, however, was very quiet, if not intriguing and became public today almost a week after Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) announced that Vercelli was leaving MIAL — a joint venture between the GVK-SA consortium and Airports Authority of India — to join them as CEO.

An MIAL spokesman merely said that Vercelli moved out for “personal reasons”. Asked if the firm would replace him, he said, “The portfolio handled by Vercelli will be distributed among the senior management of the company. So presently we are not looking at getting somebody to replace him.”

Neither Vercelli nor MIAL MD G V Sanjay Reddy was available for comment. Vercelli was involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and also headed the future project planning at MIAL.

Under the agreement with the government, phase one of the airport development project — including creating a new terminal building, constructing a six-lane road link to the airport, airside upgradation and doubling capacity — is to be completed by March 31, 2010. All without hampering current operations, of course.

When The Indian Express spoke to Vercelli last year he said, “It is a very ambitious deadline but I’m yet to work on a project without an ambitious deadline.” Vercelli had played a pivotal role in the 33-airport privatisation contract in Argentina, as vice-president for Ogden Aviation.

“You don’t need to be big (spatially) to be among the best in the world. An airport needs to be beautifully managed,” the man who, has been a developer, planner and director of airports from Las Vegas and London to Argentina and Doha in his 30-year career, had said.

“What we are planning is a building, and an organisation,” he had said. “Glass and steel, bricks and mortar alone don’t make an international class airport.”

Recently, the consortium was facing a mammoth task of relocating the shanties near the airport and rehabilitate the people living there. MIAL has appointed Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) for rehabilitation and resettlement of Mumbai airport slums.

The contract was awarded to HDIL under a competitive bidding process.

MIAL was awarded the mandate of modernising and upgrading Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in April 2006. CSIA is India’s busiest airport, having catered to 22.2 million passengers and 4,80,000 tonnes of cargo in 2006-2007. MIAL’s vision is to transform CSIA to one of the world’s best airports that consistently delights customers and becomes the pride of Mumbai.

A statement from ADAC said Vercelli would join the firm on March 20 and provide “leadership, vision and strategic business planning. He will direct a major development plan for expanding the overall airport infrastructure at Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in order to meet the demands of a fast growing aviation market, in the world’s most dynamic region”.