Air India has appointed former Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director in a leadership change as Tata Group-owned airline embarks on the next phase of its ambitious transformation journey. The appointment follows Campbell Wilson, who had been behind Air India's first turnaround efforts when the Tata Group acquired Air India and took over the airline in 2001.
Tewolde Gebremariam is one of aviation’s most successful leaders. From 2011 to 2022, he was the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines and made it Africa’s largest and most profitable carrier. Under his leadership and with his vision, the airline expanded its global presence (network, fleet, etc.), and delivered a more than five-fold increase in revenue (from about $1 billion to almost $5 billion) as well as a lot of global recognition for operational excellence and strategic growth.
Air India’s Board is confident that Gebremariam’s extensive experience in airline expansion, fleet modernization, and crisis management is the best way to lead the airline through its next stage of growth and is the best-suited person to take the airline through the next stage of growth. His appointment is just when Air India is looking to improve its operational efficiency and customer experience and financial health and profitability and to get more aircraft into its growing fleet, as well as the new aircraft in the airline.
The airline has already undertaken one of the world’s largest aircraft acquisition programs, ordered hundreds of new aircraft, merged with Vistara, and unveiled a new brand identity under the Tata Group. But Air India is still struggling with operational difficulties and regulatory scrutiny, financial losses, and the requirement of good leadership to help it to grow and flourish in the future.
Gebremariam has an excellent track record of developing Ethiopian Airlines from a humble airline into an internationally renowned aviation company, and this is the right platform, industry experts believe, to help Air India to rapidly develop with the industry. His experience managing large-scale airline operations and managing crises will be key to Air India's ability to compete in domestic and international markets.
Air India also said that the company is moving from a stabilization phase and now it is moving into an execution-oriented model and therefore operational reliability, service excellence, and sustainable profitability. The new CEO will help us achieve the Tata Group’s long-term vision of making Air India one of the world’s best global airlines.
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