Air India, co-owned by SIA, said to have started search to replace CEO amid persistent losses
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Air India’s current CEO Campbell Wilson, whose contract expires in mid-2027, will not be offered an extension, sources said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW DELHI - The Tata Group has started scouting for a new chief executive for Air India, as it grows impatient with the carrier’s slow recovery after a deadly crash that killed 241 passengers and crew in 2025, people familiar with the matter said.
Current CEO Campbell Wilson, whose contract expires in mid-2027, will not be offered an extension, the people said. Tata chairman N. Chandrasekaran has had initial discussions with potential CEO candidates who have experience running large airlines, including those with sizeable domestic operations, one of the people said.
Air India is 25.1 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, which has seen its net income pulled down by the Indian carrier’s woes. The Singapore carrier is helping Air India transition aircraft maintenance services in-house as part of its restructuring plan, people familiar with the matter said in August.
Tata Group’s discussions to replace the top leadership at Air India were reported by local newspaper The Economic Times earlier on Jan 6.
Air India is unlikely to meet a target date of March 31 to break even operationally, a key factor in Mr Wilson’s ouster, the people said. The carrier’s turnaround plan was dealt a blow when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad in June 2025, the cause of which is still not definitively known.
Representatives for Air India and Tata Group did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comments. Mr Wilson also did not respond to an e-mailed query.
Announcement of a new CEO will likely come after the crash report on the tragedy is released, some time by June. The agencies typically have a year after the incident to close their findings.
There is instability at both of India’s top airlines right now, as larger rival IndiGo awaits the regulatory fallout after a mass cancellation of its flights in December – triggered by pilot shortages and software glitches – stranded half a million passengers.
The troubles at the two carriers, which together account for nearly nine in 10 domestic seats in the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market, are raising concern that India’s infrastructure and regulatory apparatus are not ready for rapid growth in air travel.
External challenges – like supply chain issues that are affecting aircraft deliveries, and Pakistan’s closure of airspace to Indian carriers that has meant longer flying routes – have also impacted Air India’s financial performance.
Current CEO Mr Wilson joined Air India in July 2022 from budget carrier Scoot after the group’s earlier choice for the job, former Turkish Airlines chief Ilker Ayci, declined to take up the offer. BLOOMBERG
