Experienced, foreign CEOs were initially required in a nascent aviation industry. But as the sector matures and grows, the trend has much to do with airlines' global ambitions
A file photo of Campbell Wilson inside a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner aircraft at Changi Airport in Singapore
Image: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg via Getty Images
It’s been the case for many years. And there seems to be no end to it. Last month, India’s largest airline by market share, IndiGo, announced a replacement at its helm: Incumbent CEO Rono Dutta will retire by the end of September, and will be replaced by Pieter Elbers as the new CEO. Elbers, who has been serving as president and CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines since 2014, will assume office on or before October 1, subject to approval.
Just a week before IndiGo’s announcement, Tata Sons, the new owners of Air India, announced that 50-year-old Campbell Wilson will lead the 90-year-old airline in its new avatar as a privately owned entity after many years of government ownership. The appointment of Campbell, who was earlier with Singapore Airlines, came a few months after another foreign CEO, Ilker Ayci, the former chairman of Turkish Airline, was appointed to the top post at Air India; Ayci eventually decided not to join Air India.
“He is an industry veteran having worked in key global markets cutting across multiple functions,” said N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Air India, at the time of the announcement. “I am delighted to welcome Campbell to Air India. Further, Air India would benefit from his added experience of having built an airline brand in Asia.”
These recent appointments to the helm of the country’s top airlines raises a significant question: Is there a shortage of Indian CEOs in the aviation sector, capable of driving growth? Consider this. It’s not just IndiGo and Air India—which together account for 64 percent of the domestic market—that have a foreign presence at the helm. GoFirst, earlier GoAir, has Ben Baldanza, a pioneer in the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) model, having served as CEO of US-based airline Spirit for over a decade, as its vice chairman. Beldanza was appointed in March 2021 and has been instrumental in turning GoAir into a ULCC. (A ULCC, unlike a low-cost carrier, operates with unbundled fares, making it cheaper for customers, which means that apart from the seat, all other extras such as baggage, seat preference or food are subject to an additional fee.)
“If one peruses the long list of CEOs of Indian carriers ever since they were allowed to enter the business of flying, starting the early 1990s, most have been of foreign origin,” says Jitender Bhargava, a former executive director of Air India and author of The Descent of Air India. “The ones who have been or are of Indian origin are those who have acquired experience working with international airlines abroad.”