Ilker Ayci, former chairman of Turkish Airlines, named Air India CEO

Tata Sons on Monday has announced the appointment of Mehmet Ilker Ayci as the new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India.

Expected to take charge on or before April 1, Ayci (51) until recently was the Chairman of Turkish Airlines and was also on its Board of Directors prior to that.

The key appointment was finalised at the Air India board meeting on Monday, in which Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran was a special invitee. Ayci’s appointment would be subject to regulatory approvals.

“Ilker is an aviation industry leader who led Turkish Airlines to its current success during his tenure there. We are delighted to welcome Ayci to the Tata Group where he would lead Air India into the new era,” said Chandrasekaran.

Acknowledging the appointment, Ayci said he is “delighted and honoured to accept the privilege of leading an iconic airline and to join the Tata Group”, which recently acquired the country’s flag carrier”.

“Working closely with my colleagues at AI and the leadership of Tata Group, we will utilise the strong heritage of Air India to make it one of the best airlines in the world with a uniquely superior flying experience that reflects Indian warmth and hospitality,” Ayci added.

Born in Istanbul in 1971, Ayci was once the Advisor to the country’s current President, R.T. Erdogan, when the latter was the Mayor of Istanbul.

#FlyAI : Mr. Ilker Ayci appointed as the CEO & MD of Air India. pic.twitter.com/KhVl0tfUlv

— Air India (@airindiain) February 14, 2022

He served as the Chairman of Turkish Airlines from 2015 till he resigned last month.

An alumnus (1994) of the country’s first private varsity, Bilkent University, Ankara, he graduated from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and is fluent in Turkish, English and Russian.

He continued his education with a research stay in political science from the Leeds University in the UK. In 1995, he completed his Master’s in international relations from the Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997.

During his successful career, he held several positions with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and for a period from 1994, served as Advisor to the then Mayor of Istanbul, Erdogan, who’s now the country’s President.

Later, Ayci served as the CEO of several insurance companies. In January 2011, he took over as the President of the Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey.

In 2013, he was appointed Vice-President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies of which he later became the Chairman and served till 2015.

After a competitive bidding process, the government had on October 8 last year sold Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group’s holding company, for Rs 18,000 crore.

Tatas beat the Rs 15,100-crore offer by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier.

Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932. However, after the country got independence, It was nationalised in 1953.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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