The Tata Group has named Ilker Ayci, the former Chairman of Turkish Airlines, as Air India’s Managing Director and CEO, beginning April 1. The move coincides with the Tata Group’s plans to appoint an outside executive to lead the airline it took over from the Indian government last month.
Ilker Ayci has been the chairman of Turkish Airlines since 2015, and the carrier announced his departure on January 27 this year, the same day the Centre handed over Air India to Tatas.
Ayci worked as an adviser to then-Mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdoan in the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul, where he was involved in a number of development projects in Turkey’s largest metropolis. Turkey’s President, Erdoan, is currently in office.
“The Air India board met this afternoon to consider the candidature of Mr. Ilker Ayci. Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was a special invitee to this board meeting. The board after due deliberations approved the appointment of Mr. Ilker Ayci as the CEO & MD of Air India. This appointment is subject to requisite regulatory approvals,” the Tata Group said in a statement.
In the year 1971, Ayci was born in Istanbul. According to a statement from the Tata Group, he graduated from Bilkent University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration in 1994. 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.
