Today, Air India issued a detailed press release on the subject. What most of us did not know was that Campbell had requested Tata Son Chairman Mr. N. Chandrasekaran way back in 2024 that he wanted to be relieved from the post and the deadline was 2026, which has only added to the allure and mystery.
Hence, the rumours that I had heard in January 2026, of headhunters of the search team seeking out certain British and American Airline CEOs, now appear to be well-founded based on the facts that have been revealed. One cannot help but wonder why this was left to simmer for so long.
The sooner the new leader steps in, the quicker the airline can move into a new trajectory, as Air India will be facing the toughest two quarters in the aviation history since COVID lockdown with this Iran war.
How will History remember Wilson Campbell?
I would say that he was the Kiwi who eventually became a reluctant Indian, reveling in the different ways we exist in India. He had created a pathway that Air India would have to tread over the next five years, but, sadly, his roadmap and that of Air India’s were overtaken by global events – Operation Sindoor, closure of Pakistani airspace and then a devastating tragedy, to only speak of a few.
Campbell will be remembered for the merger of the four airlines into one strong unit, handling the AI-171 crisis, the fantastic Air India training academy (which rivals the world’s best), the logo and product revival of Air India and the IT enhancements. He put in place the building blocks for a strong Airline.
I remember meeting him first in September of 2022 at a Vihaan presentation at the Sahara Star Mumbai, and I got to chat with him briefly during that event. He had the passion of a man who was on a mission, though I have to say that the Vihaan team back then was not very open to ideas other than their own, which is fair.
Some questions over choices will remain, whether Air India was right not to refurbish aircraft right away in 2022 and then rebrand and grow (as one school of thought wanted to) or whether to grow capacity, lease and expand with whatever metal they had, to gain market share.
Air India went for the latter plan and has recently commenced the aircraft refurbishment plan, rather late in the entire scheme of things, and then faced the global supply chain issues and other restrictions. Nevertheless, it’s a project underway.
I connected with him again last year in June, on the 40th anniversary of the Air India Kanishka bombing, and he was kind and deeply respectful and was one of the first Air India CEOs to remember the tragedy and attend a memorial prayer function at the Canadian embassy, after many years of neglect by all and sundry. He had a humane side that was respectful of the airline world.
Two Expats, Two Airlines
It is ironic that both expats, Pieter Elbers and Campbell, who joined Indigo and Air India at almost the same time, are leaving months apart from each other; both of them also had a unique understanding and respect for each other. I remember speaking to an insider at the peak of the AI-171 tragedy, and I learnt that as a mark of respect to Air India, Pieter toned down all 6E launches and also ensured that human remains from AMD came on 6E on priority and at almost no cost.
Similarly, when Indigo had its own crisis in December 2025, Campbell asked Air India staff to show respect and support for crew members from rival airlines “regardless of the colour of our uniform” amidst the IndiGo operational crisis.
Aviation brings out the best in its leaders. Both of them also had a tough time facing up to the Indian bureaucracy and the regulator, and both faced the ire of the babus.
The way forward for Tata-Air India
Air India watchers know that the snide remark on the street is “Are these guys building Jet-Indigo 3.0”? When the Tatas should be building a Vistara 2.0 or an Air India 3.0? That is not to say that Jet is a bad act to follow; it was a great brand & a super airline. Jet was fantastic, and Naresh Goyal modelled it on JRD’s Air India, and he had the best of the old-timers build his team, but like Campbell once said, the aviation world has changed a lot in the last 30 years.
The Tata legacy of the Taj, TCS and its multiple brands and their leaders, are at another level and in my respectful opinion, to not completely leverage that completely in the recreation of Air India, would not be doing justice to the glorious century-old legend of the great Bombay House. I am at the heart of it, a traditionalist and a Mumbai boy.
For those in the know in aviation, it has been whispered that the headhunting team has been searching for someone for a while now.
The Tatas have had some bad luck when it comes to leaders in Air India, and one hopes that their new choice will be a “lambi race ka ghoda”.
Most Indian airlines have had this penchant for foreign CEOs and bosses, and this time will be no exception. It is the owner’s choice, and they know what they want.
However, if I had to advise them, the best way forward would be to split the position. Air India should ideally have at least one top-level head between the CEO & Managing Director, who is an Indian, perhaps from within the Taj stable or even their consumer companies like Starbucks or Tata Coffee or within the Tata talent pool or any other Indian corporate honcho.
The Tatas are a 158-year-old conglomerate that is in everything from pins to Space, and I am confident that they have the best within their own family and we have talent within India.
In this way, they could have an International CEO as well as an Indian as the Managing Director. The Airline is going to receive a large number of planes in the next few years and is most likely to hit the capital markets by 2028 or 2029, and will need an Indian at the helm to push this plan forward. It will also help in dealing with the bureaucracy in our country.
Campbell will be remembered fondly as the good guy, who made changes, and whose life the babus made hell, (just like Pieter), but India needs a successful Air India, and all Indians need an airline they can be proud to call their own.
Perhaps it is the old Air India romantic in me, but I’m rooting for them. This will be a moment of reckoning for the airline, which is on the cusp of a second takeoff.
The author is an aviation expert & commentator