Air India's new CEO inherits safety crisis and $2.3bn losses

Tewolde Gebremariam is walking into one of aviation's harder jobs. Air India, freshly returned to private ownership under the Tata Group, has just appointed him as its new chief executive—a role that comes with a $2.3 billion loss posted last month, a fatal crash that killed 260 people still under investigation, and an airline hemorrhaging international routes. He replaces Campbell Wilson, who stepped down in April after signaling his departure more than a year ago.

Gebremariam arrives with credentials that suggest he might be equal to the task. For over a decade, he ran Ethiopian Airlines, transforming a regional carrier into Africa's most profitable airline while nearly tripling its fleet. More than that, he steered the airline through two catastrophic moments: the 2019 Boeing 737 Max crash that killed 157 people, and the Covid pandemic, when he kept the airline profitable by pivoting aggressively into cargo operations as passenger revenue evaporated. Aviation consultants who watched him navigate those crises say he earned the loyalty of his workforce—pilots, engineers, ground staff—by backing them publicly when the pressure was greatest.

But Air India's troubles run deeper than any single crisis. The airline operates 198 aircraft and flies nearly 5,000 weekly flights to 91 destinations, yet it has cut roughly a third of its international operations in an attempt to stanch losses. In March, a Delhi-Vancouver flight turned back after eight hours in the air because it lacked clearance to enter Canadian airspace—the kind of operational failure that compounds safety concerns and erodes customer confidence. The crash itself, which occurred on the Ahmedabad-London route in June of last year, remains under investigation; the final report is due in October. That report will likely shape public perception of the airline for years.

Gebremariam will inherit an airline caught between ambition and survival. The Tata Group bought Air India from the Indian government in 2022 with plans to build it into a world-class global carrier that could project India's economic reach. The chairman, N Chandrasekaran, has acknowledged that stabilizing the airline under Wilson's leadership was only the opening act. Now comes what he calls the "critical execution and expansion era"—though he has also warned that a full turnaround could take a decade. That timeline suggests the board understands the depth of the work ahead.

Gebremariam himself has spoken of building a "world-class global airline" that reflects India's economic potential. It is the language of ambition, but also of someone who understands that words matter less than what happens on the tarmac and in the boardroom. His immediate priorities, according to aviation experts, will be rebuilding workplace culture and employee morale—both of which suffer when an airline is in crisis. He will need to accelerate the delayed expansion and refurbishment of the fleet. He will need to reshape the airline's route network to stop the bleeding. And he will need to do all of this while the final crash investigation unfolds and India's broader aviation sector contends with rising costs, disrupted international routes due to the Iran war, aircraft delivery delays, and tighter regulatory scrutiny.

The airline has not yet announced when Gebremariam will formally take the helm. But when he does, he will be stepping into a role that demands both the steady hand of a crisis manager and the vision of someone who can see beyond the immediate wreckage toward something rebuilt and whole.