Air India appoints former Ethiopian Airlines chief Tewolde Gebremariam as CEO and MD
Tata-owned Air India has named Tewolde Gebremariam, former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, to succeed Campbell Wilson. The appointment signals a new phase of the carrier’s turnaround, focused on operational reliability, cabin upgrades, network growth and workforce capability.
What happened
Air India appointed former Ethiopian Airlines chief Tewolde Gebremariam as CEO and MD, replacing Campbell Wilson. The Tata-owned airline will focus on
Key facts
- Gebremariam led Ethiopian Airlines Group for more than 10 years
- Ethiopian Airlines revenue grew from about $1 billion to $4.5 billion under Gebremariam
- Ethiopian Airlines fleet expanded from 33 to about 130 aircraft
- Passenger traffic grew from around 3 million to 12 million before Covid-19
- Gebremariam joined Ethiopian Airlines in 1985 and became group CEO in 2011
- Campbell Wilson led Air India since July 2022
Why this matters
Gebremariam’s international airline experience could accelerate Air India’s partnership, fleet, network and capability-building agenda as Tata positions the carrier for global scale.
What to watch
- Changes in the executive team, especially chief operating officer, commercial, engineering and human-resources roles.
- Monthly on-time performance, cancellation rates, customer complaints and aircraft utilization versus IndiGo and Vistara-era benchmarks.
- Progress on Boeing and Airbus deliveries, leased-aircraft availability and retrofit completion.
- Route launches, suspensions or frequency shifts in Europe, North America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
- Labor agreements, attrition trends and hiring throughput for pilots, engineers and cabin crew.
- Evidence of deeper Star Alliance participation, codeshares or hub-feed partnerships.
- Install an operations-focused leadership team spanning network planning, maintenance, customer experience and workforce transformation.
- Set public reliability targets for on-time performance, cancellations, baggage handling and aircraft availability.
- Reassess long-haul route profitability, hub wave schedules and codeshare/alliance economics.
- Accelerate cabin retrofit, inflight-product and digital-service milestones on priority international routes.
- Expand pilot, cabin-crew, engineering and airport-operations training pipelines to support fleet induction.