Ethiopian national Tewolde Gebremariam to be second foreign CEO for Air India

New Delhi: Set to pilot Air India, Tewolde Gebremariam comes with nearly four-decade-long experience at Ethiopian Airlines Group, including as its CEO for over 11 years.

Currently, he is serving as a Senior Strategic Advisor to Delta Airlines as well as the IFC/ World Bank Group.

Air India on Wednesday appointed Gebremariam as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, replacing Campbell Wilson, who announced his resignation in April.


An Ethiopian national, Gebremariam will be the second foreign national to helm Air India after Tata Group took over the airline from the government in January 2022.

During his tenure as the Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group for a little over 11 years, the airline's revenue rose more than four-fold and the fleet size nearly tripled.

After his more than 37 years' stint at Ethiopian Airlines Group in various roles, he founded TGM Advisory Services LLC that provides strategic consultancy services, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Gebremariam has an MBA from the UK and a degree in Economics from Ethiopia.

In the words of Air India, as the airline shifts from its foundational turnaround phase into a high-growth and profitable execution phase, Gebremariam brings crucial capabilities required for its next leg of journey.

Air India, facing multiple external headwinds, has embarked on an ambitious five-year transformation plan Vihaan.AI that was announced in September 2022. While certain milestones have been achieved, challenges remain for the carrier, which also had the fatal plane crash that killed 260 people in June last year.

Vihaan.AI is aimed at putting Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.

Air India Group -- comprising Air India and Air India Express -- has placed orders for almost 600 aircraft, and less than 10 per cent of them have been delivered. The remaining planes will be delivered over a period till the middle of the next decade.

As Gebremariam mentioned, he will work to deliver exceptional operational reliability, warm Indian hospitality, and sustained long-term growth.

Also, he is probably the first African national who will be heading an Asian airline.

Meanwhile, the country's largest airline IndiGo has appointed global aviation veteran Willie Walsh as CEO.

India, one of the world's fastest-growing civil aviation markets, will now see two foreign CEOs piloting two leading airlines anchored on global ambitions.