He believes that success comes through sheer hard work. A visionary to the core, Naresh Goyal since his childhood had some flying dreams. He wanted to soar in open skies. Today as the founder Chairman of Jet Airways, India's premier domestic airline, Goyal has had over 37 years of experience in the civil aviation industry. But for him even the sky is not the limit! After graduating in commerce in 1967, Naresh Goyal joined the travel business with the GSA for Lebanese International Airlines. From 1967 to 1974 he underwent extensive training in all facets of the travel business through his association with several foreign airlines. Goyal, a B Com graduate and a "travel agent turned entrepreneur" from Patiala is considered to be a tough man who gives a lot of importance to minute details.

He believes in the fact that a satisfied customer is the best defence against the threat of new entrants. Indeed, he has been flying higher and higher in the open skies amidst tough competition from both the private and Government players. Goyal has been elected to the Board of Governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in June 2004, the only chief of any Indian private airline to have been elected to the Board. He founded Jetair (Private) Limited in 1974 with the objective of providing sales and marketing representation to foreign airlines in India.

Jetair became Jet Airways (India) Private Limited in 1991 and the new incarnation took wings on May 5, 1993. Within a decade, thanks to Goyal's visionary approach, Jet Airways has emerged as India's largest private domestic airline. Its planes are flying to 43 destinations in India, including London (Heathrow), Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Colombo and Kathmandu, with over 1,924 flights weekly. Jet Airways has been voted India's "Best Domestic Airline" consecutively by several organisations of world-class repute. Jet Airways has also won the 'Service Excellence Award' hosted by Global Managers at Mumbai. Goyal in his capacity as Chairman, Jet Airways has won the 'Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services' from Ernst & Young and also 'Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 for meritorious and distinguished performance as an Entrepreneur' and also the 'most respected company in travel and hospitality sector'. Most recently, he has bagged the well deserved 'Star of Asia' award instituted by the Business Week a leading magazine published from United States of America, Europe and Asia. This 'Outstanding Asian-Indian' is flying high and his soaring dream was to make Jet Airways an international airline that "would be profitable, and among the top five globally in terms of reliability and service". No doubt, he will soon be able to translate his dream into a reality, for Goyal is a man who loves to face any challenge. Another feather to his cap is that his net worth of $1.3 billion has placed him as 754th in the Forbes 2007 list of world's billionaire. Of course, this is barely a spot for Goyal to rest. The man who gave wings to the mobile milieu of India, is gearing to scale new heights.