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Air India names Tewolde Gebremariam CEO as losses and safety issues mount
The new CEO takes over from Campbell Wilson as Air India navigates a crash investigation due in October and reported a record loss of nearly $2.3 billion last month.
BBC Business reports that Air India has appointed Tewolde Gebremariam as its new chief executive, replacing Campbell Wilson, who stepped down from the role in April. The move comes as the airline faces heavy financial losses and continuing fallout from last year's crash that killed 260 people.
Air India, now owned by Tata Group after the 2022 acquisition from the Indian government, is dealing with what the outlet describes as operational turbulence, including safety challenges tied to last June's fatal Ahmedabad-London crash. The airline says the final crash report is due in October.
According to BBC Business, Air India currently operates a fleet of 198 aircraft, serving nearly 5,000 weekly flights to 91 destinations in India and abroad. The outlet also notes that the airline has cut nearly a third of its international operations, and that it reported a record loss of nearly $2.3 billion last month.
Gebremariam previously served as CEO of Ethiopian Airlines for more than a decade, where he helped expand the carrier’s fleet nearly threefold and grew it into Africa’s most profitable airline, BBC Business said. The outlet adds that a turnaround at Air India could take up to a decade, and that Gebremariam is expected to lead the airline through its next phase of growth.