Air India appoints Klaus Goersch as executive vice-president and COO

Tata-Group owned Air India announced the appointment of Klaus Goersch as executive vice-president and chief operations officer (COO) in a move to reshuffle the company’s management team. This comes as the airline executes its five-year transformation plan. 

Goersch, in this newly-created role, will oversee flight operations, engineering, ground operations, integrated operations control (IOCC) and cabin crew functions. 

Goersch is a licensed B777/787 pilot and held similar positions in British Airways and Air Canada. 

Air India said the incumbent chief of operations RS Sandhu will transition to an advisory role.

Sandhu will work on the harmonisation of the four Tata airlines’ operating procedures, the Airbus A350 entry-into-service programme and assist the team to establish Air India’s new training academy. 

Along with Goersch, the airline has announced a few other senior-level appointments. 

Henry Donohoe, who was appointed head of the airline’s corporate safety, security and quality functions in October last year, will become senior vice-president (safety, security and quality). His current role will be expanded to include emergency response. 

Last month, Air India’s chief of flight safety Rajeev Gupta was suspended for a month after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) uncovered multiple lapses during a surveillance carried out in July. The DGCA in September asked Air India to establish a clear chain of command to tackle matters related to safety. However, it is unclear what is Gupta's role in this new structure. Air India did not respond to queries sent by Business Standard on the matter till press time. 

Pankaj Handa will lead ground operations, Choorah Singh will be divisional vice-president - IOCC and JuLi Ng will join as divisional vice-president - cabin crew, the airline said in a release. 

The inflight product & service design department, which used to come under Sandeep Verma has now been transferred to Rajesh Dogra’s customer experience portfolio. It is not clear what Verma’s role will now be. 

Manish Uppal has been appointed senior vice-president - flight operations - after being appointed as the head of flight operations in August this year. 

Handa, Singh, Ng, Uppal and Sisira Kanta Dash (senior vice-president - engineering) will report to Goersch. 

Meanwhile, Goersch, Dogra and Donohoe will report directly to Campbell Wilson, along with existing management committee members such as Nipun Aggarwal, Satya Ramaswamy, Suresh Dutt Tripathi and Vinod Hejmadi.

“These changes have been made with a view to managing succession, streamlining the organisation, optimising talent from within the Tata airline and positioning it strongly for future growth and success,” Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of Air India said. 

Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformation roadmap includes absorbing grounded aircraft into service, addition of talent across flying and ground functions, tech upgradation and strengthening of customer care initiatives, among others, the airline said. 

In August, Air India had unveiled its new logo and aircraft livery, featuring red, gold, and violet colours.

The airline had in February placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with European plane maker Airbus and 220 with US’s Boeing.

This is the world’s second-largest single-tranche aircraft order. 

The order with Boeing is for 190 B737Max, 20 B787s and 10 B777s aircraft. 

The Airbus order comprises 210 A320 family and 40 A350 planes. The A350, B777 and B787 are wide-body aircraft, which have bigger fuel tanks, allowing them to traverse long distances such as the India-North America routes.