Amid the ongoing hunt for a CEO for Air India, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has been officially made the chairman of the carrier. The Air India board on Monday gave its nod to Chandra’s appointment as chairman.
Alice GeeVarghese Vaidyan, former CMD of General Insurance Corporation, will also be inducted on the board as an independent director. Meanwhile, the board has also given security clearances needed for their appointment, officials aware of the development told Economic Times.
Chandra’s appointment as Air India chairman comes a month after he got a 5-year extension in his term as chairman of Tata Sons in February 2022.
Meanwhile, Air India is currently looking for a new CEO and is expected to announce a name soon to replace former Turkish Airlines CEO Ilker Ayci, who resigned before officially taking charge. Officials have said that the new CEO will focus on upgrading Air India’s fleet to expand both domestic and international network.
It is learnt that HUL chairman Sanjiv Mehta’s nomination as one of the non-executive directors of Air India’s reconstituted board is on the cards. The reconstituted board of Air India might be announced tomorrow.
Air India revival plan
On Monday, Chandrasekaran personally headed to the airline’s headquarters in Delhi to review the carrier’s revival path. Chandrasekaran will be taking detailed presentations from the Air India board members to work out a roadmap.
After the takeover of Air India in January, Chandra highlighted Tata’s vision for the airline while also vowing to make, “Air India the world class airline it deserves to be” and “absolutely the best in class” in customer service, technology, fleet, network. He further added that it would offer the “best possible hospitality both in flight and off flight.”
Chandra’s latest visit to oversee Air India review plan comes at the heels of the resumption of regular international flights from March 27, which had been closed since 2020.
