Air India was privatized several years ago, in hopes of returning to its glory days, in terms of both customer service and profitability. Campbell Wilson was tapped as CEO when the airline was privatized, and while he has some accomplishments to show for his tenure, things are still very far from perfect, especially on the profitability front (which is a nightmare).
In April 2026, we learned how Wilson would be resigning from his role as CEO, and the company worked on finding a replacement. Well, his replacement has just been revealed, and it’ll be Tewolde Gebremariam, the former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines.
In this post:
Tewolde Gebremariam becomes new Air India CEO
The Air India Board of Directors has just announced that 61-year-old Tewolde Gebremariam will become Air India’s new CEO. The company claims that the Board conducted a comprehensive search to identify the next leader, rigorously evaluating both internal and external candidates from across the globe.
The objective was to “identify a leader with a proven record of managing mega-scale airline turnarounds, delivering operational excellence, fostering a strong culture of safety and service, and driving profitable expansion.”
The board concluded that Gebremariam was the right man for the job, as he “possesses the ideal combination of leadership, deep operational expertise, and strategic execution capability required for Air India’s next phase of growth.”
Gebremariam spent over a decade as CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, where he “spearheaded a multi-billion-dollar expansion, transforming a regional carrier into Africa’s largest, most profitable, and decorated airline group—growing revenue by more than fourfold and fleet size nearly threefold.”
I think this part of the announcement is pretty important, in terms of understanding the mandate that he is being given:
As Air India shifts from its foundational turnaround phase into a high growth & profitable execution phase, Mr. Gebremariam brings crucial capabilities required for Air India’s next leg of journey. He has strong experience in expanding international long-haul networks and building world-class hub operations, an unrelenting commitment to safety standards, engineering quality, and operational reliability. He also has a track record of driving sustained profitability, while navigating complex economic cycles and dynamic global markets together with a deep experience in workforce upskilling, talent development, and embedding a high-performance, customer-first service culture.
Here’s what Gebremariam had to say about his new role:
“It is a profound honour to be entrusted with leading Air India at such a historic moment in its journey. Air India carries an incredible legacy, and the opportunity to build a world-class global airline that reflects India’s extraordinary economic potential is uniquely exciting. I look forward to working closely with Chairman Chandrasekaran, the Board, our employees, and all government and industry partners to deliver exceptional operational reliability, warm Indian hospitality, and sustained long-term growth.”
My take on Air India tapping former Ethiopian Airlines CEO
On the surface, I’m impressed by the pick of Gebremariam as the new Air India CEO. He built Ethiopian Airlines into an unrivaled powerhouse in Africa, a continent where profitable, global airlines have long struggled. I have nothing but good things to say about his tenure there.
Given the strategic goals of Air India, I find this to be a pretty well aligned appointment, because perhaps Air India is in a similar position to what Ethiopian Airlines was in at the time, seeking profitable growth.
Now, a couple of things do come to mind. First of all, I find it interesting how Air India has now tapped ex-pats for the CEO position back-to-back. I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with that, but in terms of employee morale, I can’t help but wonder what impact that has. Air India is very much leaning into its cultural identity in terms of the passenger experience, yet the airline can’t find the most qualified candidate in a country of nearly 1.5 billion people?
Next, I think the mandate with this appointment is clear. I recently covered how Air India is shifting from growth mode to cost cutting mode, as the company has seen way bigger losses than planned. Financially, this transformation has been as bad as it possibly could’ve been, including due to many factors outside of the carrier’s control (the crash of AI171, high oil prices, airspace closures, etc.).
I can’t help but wonder if under Gebremariam’s leadership, we might see a bit less of a focus on passenger experience. After all, Ethiopian Airlines was run as a very disciplined carrier, but product consistency wasn’t necessarily ever a priority. I mean, the airline has a shocking number of different kinds of business class seats, with little effort put into streamlining things. So I hope we don’t see a similar reality at Air India, given the current mess that is the state of Air India’s fleet.
Bottom line
Tewolde Gebremariam will become the new CEO of Air India, replacing Campbell Wilson. Gebremariam is the former longtime CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, where he did a stellar job.
In many ways, the challenges Air India faces are similar to those that Ethiopian Airlines faced at the time, as they had to figure out how to grow an airline in a profitable way. I do think there are also many differences between the two airlines, including the competitive landscape, the expectations of product quality, etc.
I wish Gebremariam all the best in his new role, as he sure has his work cut out for him.
What do you make of Air India’s new CEO pick?
One interesting point of differentiation between Ethiopian and Air India that might pose a challenge is the multiple international gateways in India compared to a single mega-hub in ADD. For example, Air India serves the UK from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Amritsar (excuse me if I left off any others), while Ethiopian did so from just ADD.
Will Mr. Gebremariam move Air India to focus on creating 1-2 megahubs within the Air India...
One interesting point of differentiation between Ethiopian and Air India that might pose a challenge is the multiple international gateways in India compared to a single mega-hub in ADD. For example, Air India serves the UK from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Amritsar (excuse me if I left off any others), while Ethiopian did so from just ADD.
Will Mr. Gebremariam move Air India to focus on creating 1-2 megahubs within the Air India network where he can route traffic or will he focus more on point-to-point int'l opportunities from a variety of Indian cities to fully differentiate Air India from the ME3? I would lean to the former option right based off his previous experience. Either way, I think that he'll be primality focused on the network in his first year.
The "Mega Hub" model is unsuitable for Air India until Indian airports and their procedures improve. Indian airports, at the moment, are not setup for easy transfers. For example, if you are doing a longer-than-4-hour international transfer at Mumbai, you won't be allowed to the airside until 4 hours before your flight! It doesn't matter whether you are flying first/business class and have access to Adani lounge.
What about splitting the difference? Until such time as they start getting in all of those planes they ordered (and they get their act together), limit traditional hub activities to DEL, BOM, and CCU. Spoke everything off from those three.
Great point, if they can't get the transfer experience correct at their largest hubs, there's no way they can go route #1.
There is so much misinformation. Indian airports are no less in connecting through both on international to domestic connections or international to international connections. I have found DEL to be much more convenient than European airports like FRA, CDG. The irritants of the past are gone. The immigration and customs was a breeze.
The domestic business class security was super quick. I was allowed airside 10 hours before my flight in as recently as...
There is so much misinformation. Indian airports are no less in connecting through both on international to domestic connections or international to international connections. I have found DEL to be much more convenient than European airports like FRA, CDG. The irritants of the past are gone. The immigration and customs was a breeze.
The domestic business class security was super quick. I was allowed airside 10 hours before my flight in as recently as March of this year at DEL. So not sure why people still harp on something that was true once upon a time.
Are we talking about transiting or connecting?
Let me shed some light since I’ve done both, multiple times, and recently.
Delhi is set up for sterile transiting. It’s efficient and quick. Cannot comment on baggage transfer since I am HLO. The process took about twenty minutes in total. I was allowed entry airside six hours before my flight. Just look out for the transit signs when you near the escalators taking you towards immigration.
Domestic...
Are we talking about transiting or connecting?
Let me shed some light since I’ve done both, multiple times, and recently.
Delhi is set up for sterile transiting. It’s efficient and quick. Cannot comment on baggage transfer since I am HLO. The process took about twenty minutes in total. I was allowed entry airside six hours before my flight. Just look out for the transit signs when you near the escalators taking you towards immigration.
Domestic transfers are also easy if flying out of T3. Similar to above, which includes immigration. Total process takes about 20-30 minutes. Same as above - a separate queue as you near the landing to the immigration.
The challenge becomes if you’re arriving in T3 and need to connect via T1 or T2. Then you have to clear immigration, pick up luggage, take the inter-terminal bus which leaves about every ten minutes and redo the check in and security process. Basically this is familiar to anyone flying into the US, where there exists no transit or transfer facility.
The entire process is faster than at many major European airports since very few passengers transit through DEL. However, it’s not as clearly marked as in the Gulf of other major Asian ports. Compared to American airports, it’s infinitely better, since American airports are not designed to handle sterile transit not transfer.
@TravisSFO - Actually, in May 2026 as many as 27% of all passengers at DEL were transit passengers. That's approximately 1.5 million passengers per month or 50,000 per day. Definitely not a case of "very few passengers transit through DEL"
Under Wilson, AI had virtually transferred into a DEL airline. All new planes were assigned to DEL. Services were seriously curtailed in other airports. For example, BLR has just one international AI flight - to LHR.
This despite the fact that DEL is not in an optimal geographical position especially with Pakistan airspace closure. The new DEL-YYZ flight comes south to circumvent Pakistan and flies almost over BOM enroute to YYZ!
DEL is also a...
Under Wilson, AI had virtually transferred into a DEL airline. All new planes were assigned to DEL. Services were seriously curtailed in other airports. For example, BLR has just one international AI flight - to LHR.
This despite the fact that DEL is not in an optimal geographical position especially with Pakistan airspace closure. The new DEL-YYZ flight comes south to circumvent Pakistan and flies almost over BOM enroute to YYZ!
DEL is also a bad hub routing for South Asian and Australian destinations. Passengers from BLR wanting to travel to Australia will need to travel north to DEL and connect to Australia.
Whether the new CEO is going to reverse this or keep it that way remains to be seen.
First of all that's not true. A great majority of newer aircraft procured by Air India have been used on BOM and BLR routes. The leased ex-DL B777L's were operating on BOM-SFO and BLR-SFO routes nonstop. Unfortunately, their leases could not be extended due to interference from another airline, for whom these aircraft were to be converted into cargo freighters.
The 5 ex-Etihad B773ERs were stationed at BOM originally.
The reason the newer aircraft are...
First of all that's not true. A great majority of newer aircraft procured by Air India have been used on BOM and BLR routes. The leased ex-DL B777L's were operating on BOM-SFO and BLR-SFO routes nonstop. Unfortunately, their leases could not be extended due to interference from another airline, for whom these aircraft were to be converted into cargo freighters.
The 5 ex-Etihad B773ERs were stationed at BOM originally.
The reason the newer aircraft are operating from DEL now is to go to back to providing nonstop service to NA destinations. That is why the B789 is deployed on DEL-YYZ routes.
At this point, Air India cannot have multiple hubs. So i would not expect a lot of nonstop international service from other destinations other than DEL and BOM.
The Pakistan airspace situation is a recent development. An airlines cannot just shut a hub down and move to another airport overnight. I do expect a gradual shift of some service to BOM if the airspace issues at DEL are not resolved.
I really am looking forward to the new CEO. The last dude really dropped the ball. You could see at various levels, despite good intentions and massive upgrading of soft product, Air India was still not ready for primetime. Added to that they forgot to do something about the hard product of the legacy aircraft till very late in the game.
I agree with GV - the operations are far more DEL centric than a country of 1.4B can afford. It's geographically ill positioned (Pakistan is not a recent development, it's been around since 1947 and always been contentious). All new A350s are all on DEL routes. The leased 77Ws are very old planes (read Ben's recent review).
Most of India's GDP is around the West and South so I can see DEL continuing to...
I agree with GV - the operations are far more DEL centric than a country of 1.4B can afford. It's geographically ill positioned (Pakistan is not a recent development, it's been around since 1947 and always been contentious). All new A350s are all on DEL routes. The leased 77Ws are very old planes (read Ben's recent review).
Most of India's GDP is around the West and South so I can see DEL continuing to have to remain a hub, it does not need to and in fact actively needs to be downgraded. It also augurs well for decongestion.
BOM/BLR/HYD offer very bright prospects, and it's usually never a problem to fill planes with O&D traffic. With so many planes and new airports on the way, this diversification would be ideally timed.
@BBT, I am not sure if you have seen the aircraft adjustments this year. I wonder if you use DEL if you fly to India and won't see the changes.
Most recent is new 787s moved to DEL for YYZ flights sending the legacy 777Ws to BOM. Some or all of the ex-ET planes have been moved to DEL from BOM for Aussie flights.
The point is not to replace DEL but rather going to...
@BBT, I am not sure if you have seen the aircraft adjustments this year. I wonder if you use DEL if you fly to India and won't see the changes.
Most recent is new 787s moved to DEL for YYZ flights sending the legacy 777Ws to BOM. Some or all of the ex-ET planes have been moved to DEL from BOM for Aussie flights.
The point is not to replace DEL but rather going to a single hub and going to DEL as that single hub is the compounded wrong decision. There seems to be a political angle here too working with the Govt for hub and spoke travels via DEL for religious tourism to Varanasi and Amritsar from international destinations.
My response was directed at the original poster who wondered about what the new CEO with a single hub experience will do here. If he bases it on route optimization even with the aircraft they have, he will change it back to multiple hubs. Not treat BOM, BLR, etc as hand-me-down airports. The loss of premium travelers from these airports is not easy to get back. If his experience biases him towards keeping and increasing concentration, then he will continue this mistake in my opinion.
Ato Tewolde being appointed as CEO may require him a big consultant to understand the Air India and guid his endeavour to bring the airline to succes. One of the things to understand is his success with consultant will depend on understanding due to the fact that the operations and the business policy of ET and Air India rest on different work landscape. Thanks
Oh no, this is very bad news indeed. Ethiopian has a horrendous passenger experience. It is clear that that is not a priority for them. They are of the American Airlines "the schedule is the product" school of thought. Bad news for the Air India renaissance that is currently under way.
Ethiopian has a better passenger experience than Air India
Well, you know the drill, if yoloswag420 says, so... speaking of, what 'swag' does each airline provide?
That's true, but perhaps paxex isn't the priority for Ethiopian given they are the only reliable option for many markets. Though for AI, it should be, given that they have so much Asian and Gulf competition.
Mr Gebremadin,
Congrats & Good Luck!
Since I don't think the CEO has direct input into business-class seats unless they're a complete control freak (read: Carsten Spohr), we shouldn't have to worry about an inconsistent approach. My worry for the guy is that Air India has broken many a C-Suiter by putting a 100-meter-thick brick wall in front of the choo-choo of progress. Wilson just about did everything he could, but the stain of government ownership will take a decade or...
Since I don't think the CEO has direct input into business-class seats unless they're a complete control freak (read: Carsten Spohr), we shouldn't have to worry about an inconsistent approach. My worry for the guy is that Air India has broken many a C-Suiter by putting a 100-meter-thick brick wall in front of the choo-choo of progress. Wilson just about did everything he could, but the stain of government ownership will take a decade or more to get rid of. Maybe Gebremariam's successor will be the beneficiary of what Tata and Wilson started.
You are clearly in the wrong in thinking , choosing a business class seat is such a strategic decision that most airline CEOs are directly involved AT SOME POINT.
I am never in the wrong.
Upgrading operational processes and improving work culture would be his greatest challenges.
I wish him every success.
Tewolde is no stranger to India - he was Regional Directof for Ethiopian Airlines based in India for some years in the late 90s. He understands the market dynamics and how business is done there which is a hurdle that many expats struggle to clear.
His background is in marketing and he understands value product offerings better than most, so I expect him to focus on today's market realities rather than throwing money at future...
Tewolde is no stranger to India - he was Regional Directof for Ethiopian Airlines based in India for some years in the late 90s. He understands the market dynamics and how business is done there which is a hurdle that many expats struggle to clear.
His background is in marketing and he understands value product offerings better than most, so I expect him to focus on today's market realities rather than throwing money at future hypotheticals like Air India has been doing for the last few years.
He is also a genius strategic negotiator. I've sat across the table from him and been impressed with his skills long before he became CEO. He kills flies with honey rather than vinegar and very few people dislike him because he does it all with a big smile and charming personality.
I was looking forward to your reaction to this, Sean M., since I recall you've lead operations for airlines in Africa and travel extensively around the world. Thank you. Wishing Tewolde the best.
On another note EVA is relaunching Delhi in December!
I am really surprised. A couple of days ago, Mr. Gebremariam was announced as PIA CEO. It seems Air India's offer was superior.
What a merger that would be!
Tewolde was very clear that he had turned down the PIA job and did not appreciate the "leak" of the "story" to Bloomberg and Reuters.
Amazing choice! He transformed ET from the ground up. This will probably be the first time he’s leading a company outside Ethiopia. ET has been led by some excellent leaders. After the MAX crash in 2019, they navigated Ethiopian out of danger. AI171 was significantly worse than even ET302, but these guys know a thing or two about crisis management!
Beyond being Star Alliance partners, AI and ET have a lot in common in terms...
Amazing choice! He transformed ET from the ground up. This will probably be the first time he’s leading a company outside Ethiopia. ET has been led by some excellent leaders. After the MAX crash in 2019, they navigated Ethiopian out of danger. AI171 was significantly worse than even ET302, but these guys know a thing or two about crisis management!
Beyond being Star Alliance partners, AI and ET have a lot in common in terms of turning around their old reputations, and confronting a major crash in the 21st century, aside from having huge numbers of planes on order.
I think Ato Tewolde deserves a lot of credit for the execution of "Vision 2025" but it was by no means a transformation from the ground up. He inherited a sound corporate structure that Ato Girma had put in place over the previous years, and a generational management team of all-stars to support him. The beauty of his tenure at Ethiopian Airlines is that he was able to institutionalise data driven decision making, so that...
I think Ato Tewolde deserves a lot of credit for the execution of "Vision 2025" but it was by no means a transformation from the ground up. He inherited a sound corporate structure that Ato Girma had put in place over the previous years, and a generational management team of all-stars to support him. The beauty of his tenure at Ethiopian Airlines is that he was able to institutionalise data driven decision making, so that even when he exited somewhat abruptly, there was a seamless transition to Ato Mesfin (coincidentally managed from the background by Ato Girma as well). So yeah, Tewolde is a friend of mine who I've known for 20+ years but if I had to pick one person responsible for Ethiopian Airlines of today, it would be Girma ahead of him (and I have no doubt he would say exactly the same).
There are a lot of similarities between Ethiopia and India, so this makes sense
Explain what you meant by that, please.
I'd love to hear your perspective, especially with how much you have to say in the comments all the time.
The Christian communities in both countries trace their origin to the Apostle Thomas. That's one thing.
Thank you, ORD. That is quite insightful. Not sure that's what Julie was going for. Still waiting on an explanation from her... Let's say I am Doubting Julie. Get it? Recall that (at least in the story) Jesus didn't shame Thomas for wanting evidence.
No, no, Julie, I wasn't 'agreeing' with you; I was calling-out what seemed to be thinly-veiled something another... so, could you please clarify what YOU meant?
Does everything need to be in black and white for you? It's pretty clear what she means. And I happen to agree.
David, a little candor is a good start, but, would you 'do me your kindness' and actually explicitly explain for us ignorant folks, please. It would be helpful for educational purposes at a minimum to identify/expose what you each meant. And, perhaps, if you meant something that violates the intentions of Ben's commenting guidelines, that'd be good to know, too...
Is it possible Julle was making a wise observation and not being racist like some of these replies assume. Air India is never going to compete with their closest geographic rivals (which happen to be the same as Ehthiopians) Ethiopian has developed a great network and operation and while it might not have caviar service like Ethiad, it has been successful. Air India can learn a lot from Ethiopian.
Andrew, that is possible, which is why asking for clarification is wise; seeing as David is suggesting it very much is being racist, I'd argue, no, your attempt at inserting plausible deniability here fails. (That said, your commentary on the actual subject matter is appreciated, and reasonably minds can differ on that.) But, let's be clear, Julie and David likely weren't talking about what you were talking about. Hopefully, they'll respond soon to clarify. It...
Andrew, that is possible, which is why asking for clarification is wise; seeing as David is suggesting it very much is being racist, I'd argue, no, your attempt at inserting plausible deniability here fails. (That said, your commentary on the actual subject matter is appreciated, and reasonably minds can differ on that.) But, let's be clear, Julie and David likely weren't talking about what you were talking about. Hopefully, they'll respond soon to clarify. It would be nice if they said, 'no, no, I did mean the great network and operation of the airlines...'
Except that Julie wasn't talking about the airlines. She was talking about the countries. I personally don't care what she (if it is indeed a she) meant by the comment. As the song in Avenue Q goes, everyone's a little bit racist.
Ok, ORD. You are correct that username Julie Guest (because you're right, we don't know that that's actually a woman named Julie either), literally said "Ethiopia" and "India," not "Ethiopian (Airlines)" and "(Air) India"... So, yup, that's a valid context clue, the circumstantial evidence we need. We're not going for 'beyond a reasonable doubt' (like a murder), not even 'probable cause' (for an arrest); no, 'reasonable suspicion' is enough, here, I think. Then again, Ben...
Ok, ORD. You are correct that username Julie Guest (because you're right, we don't know that that's actually a woman named Julie either), literally said "Ethiopia" and "India," not "Ethiopian (Airlines)" and "(Air) India"... So, yup, that's a valid context clue, the circumstantial evidence we need. We're not going for 'beyond a reasonable doubt' (like a murder), not even 'probable cause' (for an arrest); no, 'reasonable suspicion' is enough, here, I think. Then again, Ben is the judge, jury, and executioner here. Time to enforce some comment guidelines, or admit that they're a joke, only selectively enforced, etc....
"The Christian communities in both countries trace their origin to the Apostle Thomas"
Not quite... Doubting Thomas, indeed, brought Christianity to India. In fact, Indian Christians believe that he was interred at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai. However, the credit for introducing Christianity to Ethiopia goes to St. Frumentius (sp?); a Syrian Greek.
Some wild delusions about something I've never even said, predictably coming from the obsessive and unhinged commenters as usual.
Nothing for me to address, except for them to take a look in the mirror on why they consistently behave in such a deranged manner.
Julie, ah, you've returned, and deflected. So predictable. Sounds like you 'meant what you meant.' See above. As ORD points out, your use of the 'countries,' instead of the 'airlines' was the 'tell.' Rest assured, David is on your 'side,' and he seemed more willing to admit it. Perhaps, he'll return again soon to describe in greater detail. (Ugh, why must this always happen on the India posts?)
VS, beautiful. See, now we're actually learning stuff on here! (A 'Syrian Greek'? Opa!)
According to tradition, Thomas preached in Ethiopia in addition to India. Of course, the Apostles had travel itineraries that would make Lucky's head swivel. And Frumentius was Phoenician, so more modern Lebanon than Syria.
ORD, wow, Thomas really got around, which especially impressive for an era without modern-day jet-aircraft...Addis Ababa (ADD) to New Delhi (DEL) takes about 6 hours and 45 minutes, back then, maybe a lifetime, if you're... lucky!
@Andrew IDK if I agree - the thesis for Air India's premiumization is a question on if it can re-capture and position itself to capitalize on the growing Indian national and diaspora premium traffic (and fill in the back of the cabin with the price sensitive but high volume labor traffic) that account for a chunk (~10% of passenger count each) of the ME3 flows.
Today, that traffic is significantly ceded to the Middle Eastern...
@Andrew IDK if I agree - the thesis for Air India's premiumization is a question on if it can re-capture and position itself to capitalize on the growing Indian national and diaspora premium traffic (and fill in the back of the cabin with the price sensitive but high volume labor traffic) that account for a chunk (~10% of passenger count each) of the ME3 flows.
Today, that traffic is significantly ceded to the Middle Eastern carriers but also the European carriers (esp. Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa) and some East Asian carriers. Even carriers like JAL and ANA have highlighted India as a major growth region for them looking to snag some of this traffic from the US.
If Air India could fix its product and brand reputation issue, the idea is it could recapture a healthy chunk of that traffic with point-to-point nonstop service (with the large orders also to grow the network).
Air India has an obvious and natural right to win a chunk of that traffic. It also has the benefit of a large and high-growth domestic market that it neglected for so long to other players like Indigo.
On the other hand, Ethiopian airlines does not have either of those similar benefits on the domestic market size or large diaspora travel flows a section of which is premium. It's a very different comparison.
About as daft as comment as saying there are a lot of similarities between the US and Russia so it makes sense.