Mumbai, May 22 (IANS). Air India’s current CEO Campbell Wilson said that due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, the crisis in the Middle East and the strength of the dollar, the next CEO of the company will face many challenges.
During an event in New York, Wilson said he would be stepping down from the company in the next two months and that the next four years would be “just as challenging as the last years, albeit in a different approach.”
He promised to help ensure a smooth transition and said he wanted to “appoint the right person” to address some of the challenges.
Air India is going through huge losses. During this period, it has suffered many safety related lapses, and in June 2025, its 787 Dreamliner aircraft crashed, killing hundreds of people. The airline has had to cancel thousands of flights due to the Iran war and airspace restrictions imposed by Pakistan.
The company has had to cut flights on profitable international routes to North America, and existing flights have had longer journeys, driving up costs amid higher fuel prices.
Wilson said, “We can no longer fly over many parts of the Gulf, so we have to take an even longer route. The eight-and-a-half hour flight from Delhi to London is now 12 hours.”
Wilson said that before the US-Iran war, the cost of fuel was 34 percent, which has now doubled.
He said that in addition to company-specific challenges such as growth and building relationships with employees, the new CEO will have to focus on addressing global aviation business challenges such as airspace closures and uncertain fuel prices.
He further said, “The base is ready, but obviously when you bring in the aircraft, you will have large-scale operations very soon.”
According to multiple reports, Air India was reprimanded for safety lapses, including flying the aircraft several times without a valid airworthiness certificate and without proper checking of emergency equipment.
During the US-Iran war, Air India canceled about 2,500 flights to West Asia in three weeks, and operated only 30 percent of its normal schedule to the Middle East.
–IANS
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