NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday named Rajiv Bansal, additional secretary in the petroleum ministry, as the interim chairman and managing director of Air India. The tenure is for three months and might be extended. The move follows the appointment of current Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani as Railway Board chairman, replacing A K Mittal, who resigned in the wake of Kaifiyat Express derailment in Uttar Pradesh. He had been reportedly asked to go on leave by the Railway ministry.
Bansal, an IAS officer of the 1988 batch, is not new to the aviation sector. He had served as a director in the aviation ministry. He has also served in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, where he looked after digital payments, IT Act, Aadhaar, and internet governance. During 30-year career, Bansal has also served as secretary, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, and joint secretary in the Department of Heavy Industries.
Bansal is a civil engineering graduate from IIT Delhi. He also has a diploma in finance from ICFAI, Hyderabad and an executive master in international business from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.
Lohani, a 1980 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineer, had taken charge of Air India in August 2015 when AI was plagued by unresolved issues related to the Air India-Indian Airlines merger leading to low employee morale. Lohani put Air India back on track and allowed the government to provide an attractive offer for bidders.