Expats in aviation: Indian carriers must nurture domestic talent

The country’s two largest airlines — IndiGo and Air India — recently got their new chief executives, both expats. That is in continuation with a trend prevalent in the Indian aviation sector, in contrast to most industries. IndiGo, Air India (after privatisation) and Jet Airways (now defunct) have opted for expat chief executives, with some exceptions, over the years. Against the backdrop of Indian-origin talent making it to the corner room of top multinationals in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the world, the aviation sector’s repeated reliance on foreign chief executives raises some questions. The industry has frequently cited a severe dearth of senior executives with relevant aviation experience, especially in international flying, as the primary reason for the anomaly. 

With aviation getting freed up for private commercial operations only in 1994, demand and supply of top managers have been skewed. Air India, which was a monopoly for decades, largely depended on civil servants and public-sector top managers to steer the operations, leaving a vacuum in the aviation talent pool. The current scenario, where airlines are unable to find suitable top candidates in India, can be partly traced back to the country’s chequered aviation history. While India must aspire to train and produce a world-class lineup of aviation executives not only for the domestic market but also worthy of global recognition, airlines should not feel restricted by the boundaries of nationality while hiring for the top job. World-class experience and talent in aviation should remain the main consideration in any international search. 

At IndiGo, which just turned 20 and controls more than 66 per cent of the domestic market, Willie Walsh has replaced Pieter Elbers as chief executive officer. Mr Walsh, born in Dublin, is often described as an international aviation executive, arguably in a sign that his global repute weighs over his nationality. He has been CEO of the International Airlines Group and British Airways among his various aviation roles in a 40-year career so far. Mr Elbers, a Dutch, was CEO of KLM Royal Dutch before joining IndiGo in 2022. Other expats who have steered IndiGo include Bruce Ashby and Gregory Taylor. Notably, at IndiGo, the longest and one of the most successful tenures has been between 2008 and 2018 under Aditya Ghosh, an Indian, as chief executive. Air India, ever since it was acquired by the Tata group in January 2022, has only had expat chiefs. Tewolde Gebremariam, a top executive from Ethiopia who was named Air India CEO recently, has been called a turnaround expert. He is credited with a massive expansion and revival of Ethiopian Airlines as its chief executive earlier. Mr Gebremariam is replacing Campbell Wilson, a New Zealand national with vast international experience in Singapore Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Scoot.   

Jet Airways, among the first private airlines of the country, also had a series of expat CEOs after founder Naresh Goyal stepped down in 2019. Indeed, there have been challenges vis-à-vis expats in the Indian business landscape, ranging from cultural mismatches to dealing with the bureaucratic systems. The past failures should be a lesson for the future while India tries to build its bench strength in aviation for a potential top management lineup.