Cancelled flight: new Air India CEO appointment annulled
Gulf Times
Former Turkish Airlines boss Ilker Ayci will not take the helm at freshly-privatised Air India after all, despite being named the airline's CEO last month, owners Tata group said Tuesday.
Ayci -- who oversaw extensive cost-cutting at Turkish Airlines -- was chosen as the debt-ridden carrier's first foreign CEO in mid-February after Tata group bought it back from the government following 69 years in state ownership.
But a Hindu nationalist group with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party criticised his appointment over his connections to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling on the government to block it.
India and Turkey's relationship has been strained in recent years over Erdogan's criticism of New Delhi's rule in Indian-administered Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority area.
