Tata Sons brings in former civil aviation secretary as Air India faces regulatory hurdles

New Delhi: Tata Sons is onboarding former civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola as an advisor for its aviation business as the group intensifies efforts to turn around Air India.

Kharola, a 1985-batch Indian Administrative Services officer, is expected to play a key role in leading Air India’s communication with the government as the airline faces severe regulatory scrutiny and a leadership churn at the top.

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ET had earlier reported that the Tata Group has started the search to replace CEO Campbell Wilson.

Tata Sons and Air India didn’t respond to queries on Kharola's appointment.

Kharola, who was the civil aviation secretary from February 2019 to September 2021, led the privatisation process of Air India which resulted in takeover of the airline by the Tatas in January 2022. He also had a stint as Air India chairman.

Kharola declined to comment on ET’s queries about his new role.

His appointment comes at a time when Air India’s operations are under heightened scrutiny since the crash of a Boeing 787 aircraft last year killing 260 people. A preliminary investigation however, hasn’t indicated any fault with the aircraft or the airline’s engineering practices as a reason for the crash.

In the last two years, civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sent 84 show cause notices to Air India, according to data presented in the parliament, while its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express got 65 notices. In comparison, IndiGo, whose fleet size is almost double, received 98 notices.

Last week, DGCA penalised Air India for flying an aircraft eight times without an airworthiness permit. The regulator also blamed CEO Wilson for the fault saying that the lapse has eroded public trust in aviation safety.

People aware of the development said Kharola was handpicked by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran. He has been closely involved with the airline’s functioning after the crash and is closely involved in critical areas such as sensitive government interactions, and safety reviews.

“There have been multiple instances where Tata Group’s top leadership felt that communication with the government has not been up to the mark and instances where senior government officials choose to deal directly with Tata Group’s top leadership,” said a person in know of things.

Aviation is a highly regulated business, and airlines often depend on government approvals for critical things.

For instance, Air India is lobbying the government to let it use a route through the Chinese airspace in order to mitigate the financial burn it is facing due to a ban on Indian carriers from using Pakistani airspaces.

Air India’s rival IndiGo also has also hired career bureaucrats. R K Singh, a former joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry, leads the corporate affairs team at the airline.