AI’s best years yet to come: CEO-designate Campbell Wilson

MUMBAI: Asserting that Air India’s “best years are yet to come”, CEO-designate Campbell Wilson has said the journey to make it a world class airline will require efforts that are “big and small, easy and difficult”.

Campbell, who will be at the helm as the CEO and MD after takeover of the airline by the Tata Group in January this year, visited the carrier’s headquarters in New Delhi for the first time on Monday and held a meeting with top executives.

“Given the length and complexity of the road ahead, we must work hard to keep channels of communication open. Not just with our customers, but within and across teams, too.

“For my part, I will start by devoting much of the next few weeks to meeting with as many of you as I can, getting to know you, giving a chance for you to know me, and to listening to what you have to say,” he said in a message to the employees.

Meanwhile, Emirates President Tim Clark has said “It is not easy for an airline to operate in India and if the Tata Group cannot make Air India work, no one else in the country will be able to do so.”

Air India should be as big as United Airlines. It should be as big because of its domestic market as well as the non-resident Indians abroad and the amount of economic activity that goes in and out of India. It is a goldmine, Clark said on June 21.