New Delhi:
According to a senior official, the Home Ministry has given security clearance to Air India’s designated CEO Campbell Wilson, paving the way for him to take over the reins of the airline.
On May 12, Tata Sons announced the appointment of Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India.
Tata Sons acquired the loss-making airline on January 27.
A senior official told PTI on Tuesday that the Home Ministry has given security clearance to Wilson.
The specific details could not be immediately ascertained.
A query sent to an Air India spokesperson on the matter did not elicit any immediate response.
Under civil aviation rules, the approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs is mandatory for appointment of key personnel in airlines, including foreigners.
Weeks after taking over the carrier, Tata Sons on February 14 named former Turkish Airlines chairman Lyker I as the MD and CEO of Air India. However, IC, who was to assume office on April 1, refused to join the group amid concerns expressed over his appointment in some quarters.
Wilson was the CEO of Scooter Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. Singapore Airlines is a joint venture partner of the Tata Group in full-service carrier Vistara.
He then worked for a career in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan before returning to Singapore in 2011, as founding CEO of Scoot, which he led until 2016.
He also served as Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for Singapore Airlines, where he served as CEO of Pricing, Distribution, E-commerce, Merchandising, Brand and Marketing, Global Sales and Overseas of the airline before returning for a second term. Offices inspected. Scooty in April 2020.
An aviation industry veteran with over 26 years of experience, he started as a Management Trainee with Singapore Airlines.
In a message to Air India employees on June 20, Wilson said the airline’s “best years are yet to come” and the journey to make it a world-class airline will require efforts “big and small, easy and difficult”.
According to airline sources, Wilson has been meeting various Air India offices and employees in recent weeks.
In October last year, through a competitive bidding process, the government sold Air India to Tata Sons subsidiary Tales Pvt Ltd for Rs 18,000 crore.
Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932 and the carrier was nationalized in 1953.