Air India names Ethiopian Airlines veteran Tewolde Gebremariam as CEO

New Delhi: Air India on Wednesday named former Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam as its CEO, ending the uncertainty over its leadership four months after Campbell Wilson resigned. Gebremariam, whose security clearance is yet to be approved by the government, takes charge as the Tata Group struggles to turn around the airline after last year's deadly plane crash and mounting losses linked to geopolitical tensions.

Since the group acquired the national carrier in 2022, it has raked up losses of over ₹55,000 crore.

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Gebremariam is widely credited for leading Ethiopian Airlines to become the largest carrier in Africa during his 11 years' tenure between 2011 and 2022 when the carrier grew its revenues and fleet size four-fold and provided links to cities around Africa from its transit hub at Addis Ababa. He led its diversification into an aviation group. He was recently acting as strategic advisor to US carrier Delta.

While Air India's chief commercial officer Nipun Aggarwal was seen as a frontrunner to become the CEO, Singapore Airlines-which holds a 25.1% stake in the airline-pitched for a leader with a history of running airline operations, people aware of the development said. Tata Sons said the search committee rigorously evaluated internal as well as highly accomplished external candidates from across the world and found Gebremariam the most suitable. John Strickland, director of aviation consultancy firm JLS Consulting, who knew Gebremariam for a decade, said he was an ideal candidate to lead Air India out of trouble.

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"He is battle hardened. He successfully insulated Ethiopian from the meddling of politicians invested in allied business like cargo and maintenance and repair organisation, and transformed the airline's operational and safety performance," Strickland said.

"Air India has got similar challenges that come with past history of state ownership and cultural complexity which comes with merging of four airlines into one."

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said Gebremariam's track record in building one of the world's most efficient and profitable airline groups makes him uniquely suited to lead Air India with "his operational expertise, commitment to safety, and vision for hub development." According to news agency Bloomberg, Gebremariam was one of the leaders shortlisted to run Pakistan International Airlines.