Air India forms interim panel to oversee firm as search for CEO continues

The panel, led by Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, will oversee the airline until a successor to Campbell Wilson is appointed

Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran is setting up an interim committee of senior executives, including himself, to oversee ​the airline during the search for a successor to ​CEO Campbell Wilson, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The ‌committee will also include former top civil aviation ministry official Pradeep Singh Kharola. The panel's goal, in part, is to ensure continuity at Air India while Chandrasekaran's extension as chairman of Tata Sons is pending, the person said.

Tata Sons is the principal holding company of the Tata Group, which controls Air India with a 75 per cent stake, while Singapore Airlines owns the remaining 25 per cent.

 

New Zealand-born Wilson's notice period ends on September 30, a second person with direct knowledge said. The sources cited in this article requested anonymity as they are ‌not authorised to speak to the media. Reuters previously reported that Air India's commercial head, Nipun Aggarwal, and Singapore Air executive Vinod Kannan are the frontrunners to succeed Wilson, who said in April he had resigned after nearly four years in the job.

The Economic Times newspaper earlier reported that Chandrasekaran had set up the interim committee to run the airline as the CEO appointment is expected to ​be delayed by a few months. It also reported that the proposed appointment of Aggarwal as ‌CEO had drawn opposition from several people, including Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata. Tata Trusts owns about 66 per cent of Tata Sons.

Air India and Tata ​Sons did ‌not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The airline and its budget subsidiary Air ‌India Express recorded a combined record loss of more than $2 billion in the last fiscal year.

Air India has been facing intense scrutiny after a series of ‌safety ​lapses and last ​year's Boeing Dreamliner crash in Gujarat, India, which killed 260 people. It has also been hit hard by Pakistan's airspace ban on Indian airlines ‌and the U.S.-Israeli ​war on Iran, which has raised fuel and operating costs.