B P Sharma is new CMD of Pawan Hans

The appointment of Sharma, currently an executive director at the AAI, ends two years of search for a dedicated chief for Pawan Hans

Barely a month after giving civil aviation joint secretary B S Bhullar the additional charge of chairman and managing director (CMD) of Pawan Hans, the government has appointed B P Sharma the new CMD of the state-run helicopter operator.

The appointment of Sharma, currently an executive director at the Airports Authority of India, ends two years of search for a dedicated chief for Pawan Hans.

“The ACC (Appointments Committee of the Cabinet) has approved the proposal of Ministry of Civil Aviation for appointment of B P Sharma to the post of CMD, Pawan Hans for a period of five years,” a circular from the Department of Personnel & Training said.  

Bhullar, a 1986 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, had taken over as the CMD on January 7 this year from Anil Srivastava, another joint secretary in the aviation ministry, who had been the Pawan Hans CMD for about two years.  

Pawan Hans, which has a fleet of 46 aircraft used by the government and also for tourism/pilgrimage purposes, posted a Rs 39-crore profit in 2013-14 on revenues of Rs 530 crore.

The appointment of the CMD, Pawan Hans, comes close to two more recent appointments by the government. In early January, an 1982 batch IAS officer of UT cadre and additional secretary at the aviation ministry, M Sathiyavathy, was appointed Director General of Civil Aviation. Meanwhile, 1984-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer R K Srivastava was appointed as the chairman, AAI for five years.

However, the search is still on for a new CMD for the loss-making carrier Air India. The current CMD Rohit Nandan, whose three-year tenure ended in August 2014, has been given an extension till August this year.