Industry Odisha Bureau, Sep 07: Incoming Air India CEO and MD Tewolde Gebremariam has outlined his leadership priorities. Safety, operational excellence and customer experience anchor his agenda. He wants to strengthen Air India’s brand and market position. The incoming CEO called Air India an iconic aviation brand.
Tewolde addressed employees at a townhall on the transition. Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and outgoing CEO Campbell Wilson also attended. He recalled Air India’s strong industry position during the 1990s. He described the airline’s heritage as powerful and its brand strong.
The incoming CEO expressed ambition to restore Air India’s stature. He said the airline retains enormous potential for growth. “Now I will have the opportunity to again make it a strong brand,” he said, invoking a phrase borrowed from his time in America. “We will Make Air India Great Again,” he told employees. He framed this as a long-term brand-building ambition, not a specific strategy.
Safety emerged as Tewolde’s foremost operational priority. He called for a stronger, more consistent safety culture. “A safety-first culture has to be our number one priority,” he said. He asked employees to raise concerns without hesitation. Workers should feel empowered to stop unsafe situations immediately, he said.
He tied operational excellence directly to consistent daily execution. This includes on-time departures, on-time arrivals and baggage delivery. Clean aircraft also featured among his operational benchmarks. Tewolde said these basics must be delivered every single day.
Customer experience, he explained, flows directly from operational reliability. Minimising disruptions remains central to his service philosophy. When disruptions do occur, he wants professional, customer-focused handling. This connects operational excellence directly with passenger satisfaction outcomes.
Tewolde was careful to credit existing transformation efforts. He acknowledged four years of foundational work already completed. He thanked Chandrasekaran, Wilson and the wider Air India team. This groundwork, he said, positions the airline for its next phase.
Employee commitment featured prominently in his remarks to staff. He said meaningful change requires collective commitment from employees. “We cannot bring about meaningful change without the commitment of our people,” he said. He framed the coming transformation phase as a shared undertaking.
Tewolde’s remarks signal continuity alongside renewed operational focus. His priorities point toward execution-driven leadership at Air India. The incoming CEO’s agenda centres on safety, reliability and service consistency. Employee cooperation will likely shape how quickly change materializes. Air India’s brand ambitions now rest on daily operational delivery.
