Tewolde Gebremariam takes operational charge of Air India on September 8, with a safety-first mandate, Rs 26,000 crore in FY26 losses to fix, and formal CEO clearance pending till month-end.
Cover image: An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner taxiing past the terminal — photo by Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Tewolde Gebremariam, the former Ethiopian Airlines chief, takes operational charge of Air India on September 8, succeeding Campbell Wilson at the head of the Tata group carrier. Chairman N Chandrasekaran presented him to staff at a town hall on Monday built around four themes: safety, operational excellence, customer experience and financial discipline. There is one catch passengers should know: his formal designation as CEO and accountable manager is still pending, with Union Home Ministry security clearance expected by month-end, according to The Economic Times.
Gebremariam joined Air India early last month and has spent the weeks since being mentored by Chandrasekaran and former CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola, both of whom will stay closely involved through the initial period. The appointment hands the airline to an outsider with a strong engineering reputation at a moment when safety headlines are battering its brand.
When does the new Air India CEO take charge?
Operational control passes on September 8, marked by the staff town hall. The security vetting is procedural but material: until clearance lands, Gebremariam cannot formally sign as the airline's accountable manager, the executive legally answerable to the regulator for safety. The clearance is expected by the end of September.
His mandate comes with wide latitude to fix operating gaps, review procedures quickly and correct faults, Business Today reports. That includes reshuffling senior leaders and restructuring functions to speed decisions and lift accountability, a signal that the new boss intends to change how the airline is run, not just who runs it.
What is on Gebremariam's to-do list?
Safety and maintenance sit at the top. He is tasked with strengthening Air India's engineering and maintenance organisation to handle a much larger fleet as deliveries arrive, standardising operations across the group and enforcing procedural compliance. Reliability comes next: on-time performance and day-to-day execution have lagged rivals, and the plan calls for reorganised teams with clearer ownership of delays.
Then comes money. The airline reported losses exceeding Rs 26,000 crore in FY26 and is seeking a fresh Rs 10,000 crore equity infusion from owners Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, a fundraising covered in our report on Air India's latest funding round. Gebremariam must impose cash and cost discipline while still funding growth, alongside building a leadership pipeline and a higher-performance culture.
What challenges does Air India face right now?
The in-tray is brutal. A June accident in Ahmedabad killed more than 270 people, and in August a Phuket-Delhi service suffered an abrupt altitude drop that injured around 20 passengers and four crew. The captain of that flight was dismissed after a confirmatory test showed the presence of a psychoactive substance, an episode detailed in our report on the Phuket incident and its aftermath.
Beyond safety, the airline faces questions over operational dependability and finances, with rivals IndiGo and Air India Express competing hard on the domestic network. Gebremariam's Ethiopian record matters here: he is credited with building the operations and engineering strength that turned that carrier into a consistently profitable flag carrier, exactly the muscle Air India's maintenance organisation is accused of lacking.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the new CEO of Air India?
Tewolde Gebremariam, the former chief of Ethiopian Airlines. He takes operational charge on September 8, 2026, succeeding Campbell Wilson, though his formal CEO designation awaits Home Ministry security clearance expected by month-end.
Why did Air India change its CEO?
The Tata group wants a reset after a bruising stretch: heavy FY26 losses above Rs 26,000 crore, safety incidents including the Ahmedabad crash and the Phuket altitude-drop episode, and pressure to lift reliability. Gebremariam was picked for his engineering and turnaround credentials.
Will Air India flights be affected by the leadership change?
No immediate schedule impact is expected; day-to-day operations continue under the existing team while Chandrasekaran and former CMD Kharola support the transition. The changes passengers may eventually feel are in reliability, maintenance standards and service consistency rather than routes.
