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Tewolde Gebremariam Takes Operational Charge Of Air India

Ad Tribe! Bureau2 min read
Tewolde Gebremariam, taking operational charge of Air India after two decades running Ethiopian Airlines

Tewolde Gebremariam takes operational charge of Air India from Monday, moving into the airline after a career spent building Ethiopian Airlines into the largest carrier in Africa.

  • Effective: Monday, 8 September 2026
  • Previously: chief of Ethiopian Airlines
  • Succeeds: Campbell Wilson as the airline's operational lead
  • Formal designation: he starts without the accountable manager title, with security clearance expected by the end of September
  • Ownership: Air India is held by Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, with N Chandrasekaran as chairman

What Tewolde Gebremariam Inherits

Two problems at once, and they are not the same problem. The airline reported a loss of more than Rs 26,000 crore for FY26 and is seeking Rs 10,000 crore in fresh equity, which is a balance sheet issue with a known set of levers.

The harder inheritance is operational. Air India is still working through the aftermath of the Ahmedabad crash in June 2025, in which more than 270 people died. On 4 August a Phuket to Delhi flight lost altitude, injuring around 20 passengers and four crew. A captain was dismissed after testing non-negative for a psychoactive substance. Each of those is a separate failure, and together they describe a system rather than a run of bad luck.

Why This Particular Appointment

Gebremariam's stated priorities are engineering, safety and yield, alongside operational consistency, adherence to procedure and strengthening maintenance systems. That is a list about discipline rather than growth, which is a reasonable read of what the airline needs.

His record at Ethiopian Airlines is unusual in the industry: a state-owned carrier in a difficult operating environment that he grew into a genuinely competitive long-haul network while keeping it profitable. The skill that transfers is running a complex fleet and a maintenance operation to standard under cost pressure. Pradeep Singh Kharola, a former Air India chairman and managing director, is among those who have held the job before. Whether an outsider can move an airline this size at the pace its problems require is the open question. More appointments.

#Tewolde Gebremariam#Air India#Aviation#Tata Sons#people moves
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