Air India begins search for a new CEO

Air India has kicked off the search for a new chief executive after Campbell Wilson’s decision to step down, announcing on Tuesday that it has constituted a committee to identify his successor.

Mint reported on Monday that Wilson stepped down from the helm of India’s second-largest airline, cutting short his five-year tenure by a year amid mounting losses and operational headwinds. Wilson’s tenure was to end in July 2027.

The press statement said Wilson had conveyed his intention to move on in 2026 to Air India chairman N. Chandrasekaran in 2024 and that, since then, he has been working to ensure the airline and its leadership are on a stable footing for the transition.

“He (Wilson) will remain in the role until his successor is announced and in place,” the statement added.

The Tata group hired Wilson from Singapore Airlines’ low-cost unit Scoot in May 2022, less than four months after the conglomerate acquired the state-run Air India for ₹18,000 crore.

Wilson’s exit comes shortly after leadership changes at India’s largest airline, IndiGo, where CEO Pieter Elbers stepped down in March. William Walsh has been named his successor, expected to join by August, about three weeks after Elbers’ departure.

IndiGo has also appointed former Air India Express chief Aloke Singh, who also quit in March, as chief strategy officer.

Air India Express, the low-cost carrier and subsidiary of Air India, is yet to appoint a CEO, and the airline has appointed Captain Hamish Maxwell as manager and key managerial personnel for a one-year tenure.

Wilson’s Air India flight

In an email to over 24,000 employees on Tuesday, Wilson said the airline’s transformation since privatization included “the merger of four airlines (Air India, Vistara, Air India Express and AirAsia India)”, a shift to private-sector practices, “complete modernization of systems”, and the addition of over 100 aircraft, along with new infrastructure such as “South Asia’s largest training academy”.

He added that “with these foundational blocks now settling, the time is right…to hand over the reins”, calling it “a true honour” to be part of Air India’s journey.

To be sure, Wilson tried to revive the airline by replacing outdated IT infrastructure and implementing processes and systems to modernize the carrier.

However, 2025 exacerbated the challenges of running an airline. First, on 12 June 2025, an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after taking off, killing all but one of the 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board, triggering intense scrutiny, inspections, and the temporary grounding of several aircraft.

The crash was followed by India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which led to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace, disrupting international routes for Indian carriers. Towards the end of February, the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran, marking the start of a war that sent fuel prices soaring and led to further airspace closures across West Asia, forcing carriers such as Air India to fly longer distances.

Chandrasekaran also acknowledged the numerous external challenges the AI India team has navigated, including prolonged post-covid supply chain constraints impacting the delivery of new aircraft and retrofit programs, as well as major geopolitical and other headwinds.

“Campbell and his team have demonstrated tenacity and resolve and have aligned an organization drawn from many backgrounds behind the shared goal of building the new Air India that is now emerging,” he said in the statement.

Turbulence ahead

For Chandrasekaran and the panel tasked with finding a successor, it is crucial to appoint a new CEO quickly, as the airline continues to incur losses.

In 2025, Air India Group was the salt-to-steel conglomerate’s largest loss-making business. The airline business, which posted losses of ₹10,859 crore in the year ended March 2025, is expected to post losses exceeding ₹20,000 crore by the end of March 2026, according to an executive close to the matter.

However, in 2024-25, Air India’s standalone revenue rose 13% to ₹61,080 crore. Under Wilson, it cut losses to ₹3,976 crore from ₹5,031 crore a year ago. Air India’s standalone borrowings (excluding lease liabilities) stood at ₹29,713 crore, down over 8% from ₹32,465 crore in 2023-24, its filings with the ministry of corporate affairs showed.

“The Tatas have had some bad luck with leaders at Air India so far, and one hopes their new choice will be a strong one for the long term, said Sanjay Lazar, CEO of Avialaz Consultants, which provides aviation consultancy services.

To be sure, Lazar was referring to Air India’s February 2022 announcement that former Turkish Airlines chairman Ilker Ayci would become its CEO. However, a political backlash in India over Ayci’s political links led him to turn down the job, prompting the carrier to select Wilson, who has now decided to leave.

Lazar also said they should split the CEO and managing director roles, with at least one Indian holding one.