Can This Man Save Troubled Airline?

India’s struggling, government-run airline, Air India, gets a new chief.

India appointed a new head to struggling government carrier Air India last week. Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation chief Ashwani Lohani, who has been credited with reviving tourism in the state, will head the airline, reported Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

Lohani was named chairman and managing director of Air India for a three-year term.

This is the first time in over a decade that Air India will be run by an executive outside the Indian Administrative Service, IANS reports.

Lohani previously acted as chairman and managing director of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) in the National Democratic Alliance government. IANS reports his tenure as controversial as he reportedly opposed disinvestment of ITDC’s flagship Ashoka Hotel.

Lohani succeeds Rohit Nandan, who’s three-year term ended last year; Lohani will begin his role next month.

Lohani is a graduate engineer from Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering and a former chief administrative officer at the Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuels division for the ministry of railways. He also served as chief mechanical engineer at Northern Railway and as a fellow at the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport.

[Photo: Tourismfirst.org]