NEW DELHI: Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has been appointed as the chairman of Air India. The appointment was cleared at a board meeting held by Air India on Monday. While the board has made Chandrasekaran the chairman of AI, who also is the chairman of other Tata Group companies, they are yet to announce the appointment of a chief executive officer (CEO) for the airline
The Tata’s are on the hunt for a new CEO after former Turkish Airlines CEO Ilker Ayci resigned before taking charge officially. Ayci was supposed to take responsibilities as the CEO and Managing Director (MD) of AI on or before April 1, 2022.
Since his name was announced by the Tata Group on February 14, there were wide speculations that the Indian government would go through a rigorous process to give Ayci necessary clearances, which generally are formalities, owing to his close ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, considered as a close ally of Pakistan.
Ilker Ayci on March 1 then declined the offer of Tata Sons to be the MD and CEO, stating that some sections of the Indian media are attempting to colour his appointment. Tata Group had won the bid to acquire the national carrier along with Air India Express and 50% stake in AISATS in October last year for Rs 18,000 crore after a competitive bidding process that lasted for more than a year.