Air India New CEO Campbell Wilson Gets Security Clearance By Govt.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday granted security approval for Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson. The security clearance issued by the Central government has cleared opening to Campbell Wilson to take charge of Air India, a senior official told.

Tata Sons had on May 12 announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Managing Director (MD) of Air India after taking over the airline that had been losing money since the 27th of January. A senior official informed mediapersons that the Ministry of Home has granted the security approval for Campbell Wilson. There was no further information provided with the government official.

Air India spokesperson was also asked about the approval to Campbell Wilson but no immediate reply was given. According to the rules of civil aviation clearance from the ministry of home is required in order to appoint important personnel in airlines, which includes foreigners.

A few weeks after taking over Air India carrier, Tata Sons appointed Turkish Airlines' former Chairman Lyker Ayci as Air India's CEO and MD. Lyker Ayci had been expected to become the MD and CRO positions of the airline in April. Lyker Ayci however, decided not to join the company due to fears about his appointment by certain quarters. Campbell Wilson was the CEO of Singapore Airlines' subsidiary Scoot Air. Singapore Airlines is a joint venture with Tata Group in full-service carrier Vistara.

In Singapore Airlines, Campbell Wilson was also the executive vice president of marketing and sales which included overseeing pricing distribution, e-commerce and marketing, branding and merchandising worldwide sales as well as the overseas offices of the airline. In April of 2020 Campbell Wilson will return for a second term as the chief executive officer for Scoot Air. Wilson had started off as a management trainee for Singapore Airlines.

In a letter for Air India employees on June 20th, Campbell Wilson said the airline's "best years are still to come". He added that the path to transform Air India a world-class airline will require efforts that are "big and small, quick and challenging".

In October of this year, in a competition bidding process the government decided to sell Air India to Talace Private Limited an affiliate of Tata Sons, for Rs18,000 crore. Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932 and the airline was made a national carrier in 1953