Air India Starts Search for CEO After Campbell Wilson Resigns

Air India has begun scouting for a new chief executive after Campbell Wilson resigned as chief executive officer and managing director this week, with the airline’s board setting up a committee to identify his successor in the coming months.

Wilson will remain in the role until a replacement is announced and takes charge, the airline said on Tuesday, April 7.

The leadership search opens a new phase in the Tata Group-owned airline’s overhaul, four years after Wilson was brought in to help remake the former state carrier following its return to Tata control in 2022.

Air India said Wilson had told Chairman N. Chandrasekaran in 2024 that he intended to step down in 2026 and had since been helping prepare the organization and leadership team for the transition.

Wilson, who joined Air India on 25 July 2022, said his tenure had included the merger of four airlines, a shift from public- to private-sector operating practices, a renewal of the leadership team and workforce, and the addition of 100 aircraft to the fleet.

He also said the carrier had largely completed the interior refit of legacy narrowbody aircraft while deliveries of widebody aircraft with new cabin interiors were underway.

He said the timing was right to hand over the airline ahead of the next stage of expansion, pointing to a brief window before deliveries from Air India’s nearly 600-aircraft orderbook begin in earnest from 2027.

The airline also said it had begun building enabling infrastructure including South Asia’s largest aviation training academy, two flight simulator facilities, a flying school and a greenfield maintenance, repair and overhaul base.

Chandrasekaran, in the company statement, said Wilson and his team had steered the airline through post-Covid supply-chain disruptions that affected aircraft deliveries and retrofit programs, along with broader geopolitical and operational headwinds.

Reuters reported that Wilson’s departure comes as Air India continues to face losses and regulatory scrutiny, adding pressure to a turnaround that has taken longer and proved costlier than initially hoped.

The succession process now becomes the immediate watchpoint. Air India did not give a timeline beyond saying the committee would find a successor in the coming months, though The Economic Times reported that the airline was aiming to complete the search by September.