Air India names Ethiopian Airlines veteran Tewolde Gebremariam as CEO

Air India has appointed Tewolde Gebremariam, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, as its new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, handing one of Africa’s most decorated airline executives the task of leading the Indian flag carrier’s next phase of transformation.

The Tata Group-owned airline announced the appointment on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. Gebremariam succeeds Campbell Wilson, who informed Chairman N. Chandrasekaran in 2024 of his intention to step down and confirmed his resignation in April 2026. Wilson had agreed to remain in the role until a successor was named and in place.

Air India said its Board of Directors conducted a comprehensive global search, evaluating both internal and external candidates, with the objective of identifying a leader with a proven record of managing large-scale airline turnarounds, delivering operational excellence, building a strong culture of safety and service, and driving profitable expansion.

A decorated track record

Gebremariam served as Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines from 2011 until his resignation in March 2022, a period during which the carrier grew from a strong regional player into Africa’s largest and most profitable airline. Under his leadership the airline pursued the Vision 2010 and Vision 2025 strategic roadmaps, which set out to multiply its fleet, destinations and revenue.

By the time he stepped down, Ethiopian Airlines operated a fleet of more than 120 aircraft and served over 127 destinations, having become the clear leader in African aviation. The airline reported revenue of about $5 billion in the 2021/22 financial year, with profit rising sharply despite the pressures of the global pandemic and higher fuel costs. These figures come from Ethiopian Airlines and reflect his former employer’s account of his tenure.

During his career Gebremariam also held roles beyond the chief executive’s office, including as a board member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and an executive committee member of the African Airlines Association. He has previously served an assignment in India, giving him direct experience of the market, although that posting predates the country’s current phase of rapid aviation growth.

From integration to execution

The appointment places Gebremariam in charge of a transformation that has already combined four Tata-owned airlines into two, absorbed Vistara, added aircraft on the back of an order for more than 500 planes, renewed technology and service systems, and begun replacing or refurbishing older cabins. The remaining challenge is to convert those investments into a more consistent operation and a financially sustainable global network.

Air India said the board concluded that Gebremariam possessed the ideal combination of leadership, deep operational expertise and strategic execution capability required for the carrier’s next phase. The airline is widely seen as moving from a stabilisation and integration period into an execution-focused era centred on operational reliability, safety and sustained profitability.

The change comes in the same week that Willie Walsh took charge at IndiGo, marking simultaneous leadership shifts at India’s two largest airlines and underscoring the scale of the competition reshaping one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets. The move is also being read as one of the highest-profile executive hires in global aviation this year.