Air India has offered Ilker Ayci the position of CEO, but he has declined

Bloomberg reported on March 1 that Ilker Ayci has declined the CEO role offered by Air India.

The Tatas, who recently acquired Air India, named Ayci as its CEO on February 14.

Turkish citizen Ayci was born in Istanbul in 1971 and served as the CEO of Turkish Airlines from 2015 to the end of January 2022.

According to Bloomberg, Ayci stated his selection to the role was ‘coloured’ by local media. “I have come to the conclusion that it would not be a feasible or honourable decision to take the position in the shadow of such a storey,” according to an emailed press release. Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate, was against Ayci’s appointment.

According to many media sources, Ayci, an aviation specialist and close friend of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, may find the security clearance for Ayci, an aviation expert and close friend of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, to be a little more complicated.

On April 1, Ayci was supposed to take over the airline.

According to a recent PTI report, the Turkish national will be subjected to a “rigorous” background check by the ministry of home affairs. He will be subjected to a comprehensive background investigation by the authorities because he is a Turkish national.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) told journalists that it has yet to hear from Ayci, the Tata Group, its nodal agency, or the civil aviation ministry on the topic. They stated that once this arrives, the security clearance process will commence.

External intelligence agency R&AW was anticipated to be tasked by the ministry with doing a background check on the new Air India CEO.

Ayci, 51, is a 1994 graduate of Bilkent University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration and is regarded close to President Erdogan. He completed an International Relations Master’s degree at Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997 after a research stay in political science at Leeds University in the United Kingdom in 1995.

Ayc was recruited as Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s advisor after the 1994 local elections in Turkey, when he was elected Mayor of Istanbul. Ayc had held numerous roles in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality during this time.

Erdogan was present at Ayci’s wedding to lawyer and sports pundit Tugçe Saatman on November 19, 2018, and served as one of the witnesses.

“I am happy and honoured to accept the privilege of managing a renowned airline and to join the Tata Group,” Ayci, who worked as Turkish President Erdogan’s counsellor in the 1990s, said after his CEO appointment was announced. We will use Air India’s great tradition to make it one of the best airlines in the world, with a distinctly superior flying experience that embodies Indian warmth and hospitality, working closely with my colleagues at Air India and the Tata Group’s leadership.”

On January 27, nearly 69 years after it was taken from the company, the Tata Group took entire ownership of Air India from the government. Following a competitive bidding process, the government sold Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group’s parent firm, for Rs 18,000 crore on October 8, last year.