Reports that Tata Sons is scouting for a successor to Campbell Wilson at Air India have once again drawn attention to a familiar pattern in Indian aviation: the industry’s biggest airlines continue to turn to expatriate leaders even as India produces world-class executives across most other sectors. Group chairman N Chandrasekaran, according to industry chatter, has approached senior executives at leading British and American carriers for the top job at India’s second-largest airline.
The question this raises is not about individual capability, but about structure. Why do Indian carriers repeatedly look overseas for leadership, long after liberalisation and decades into the industry’s growth?
The roots of this dependence lie in how Indian aviation evolved. After the government nationalised the sector in 1953, creating Air India and Indian Airlines as state monopolies, the industry spent four decades under bureaucratic control. Decision-making was slow, political interference was routine and staffing levels ballooned. By the late 1980s, Air India had become a textbook case of how state control erodes competitiveness—burdened with debt, ageing aircraft and limited commercial agility.
When India liberalised its economy in 1991 and repealed the Air Corporations Act in 1994, aviation was suddenly opened up—but without the managerial depth required to sustain it. Private carriers such as Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Kingfisher, SpiceJet and IndiGo entered the market almost simultaneously. The problem was immediate and stark: India simply did not have enough senior airline executives to run them.
The gap was not just in numbers, but in skills. While India had engineers and operations staff in abundance, expertise in aircraft leasing, network planning, manufacturer negotiations and global regulatory engagement was scarce. According to Narayan Hariharan, former head of human resources at Jet Airways, the prevailing belief was simple: expatriates brought global networks and credibility with bodies such as International Civil Aviation Organization and International Air Transport Association.
That thinking has persisted—partly because Indian airlines have failed to build leadership pipelines. Cross-functional exposure remains limited, and commercial, operational and strategic roles rarely converge into a structured path to the CEO’s office.
“Yes, talent exists in India and can be nurtured to compete in a cut-throat industry like aviation,” Hariharan said. “But the mindset of aatmanirbharta has not been fully internalised.”
This is not an India-specific problem. Research by management consulting firm Egon Zehnder shows that airlines globally struggle with narrow internal talent pools shaped by siloed career paths, leaving few candidates equipped for the breadth and complexity of the CEO role.
What did Jitender Bhargava say?
“Talent matters more than nationality in a globally interconnected business like aviation,” said Jitender Bhargava, former executive director of Air India. “Indian airlines will eventually have to decide whether they want to invest in developing domestic leaders or continue importing executives whenever pressure mounts.”
There are signs of change. Aditya Ghosh, who was with Indigo between 2008 and 2018, and is now in the leadership team of Akasa Air, demonstrated that Indian executives can build globally competitive airlines. Aloke Singh has steered Air India Express through its post-pandemic recovery, drawing on deep experience across strategy, network planning and commercial operations. Regional carriers such as Fly91 are also being led by executives rooted in India’s aviation ecosystem.
Critics argue that the supposed “network advantage” of expatriates is overstated. “What additional connections do expats really bring when aircraft manufacturers, lessors and technology vendors are common across the industry?” asked Arun Kumar Singh, former CEO of IndiaOne Air.
Global precedents further weaken the case for importing airline veterans by default. British Airways was turned around in the 1980s by Lord King, a businessman with no aviation background. Japan Airlines recovered under Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera, who had never worked in the sector.
India’s reliance on foreign airline chiefs, then, may say less about necessity and more about institutional confidence. Until carriers invest seriously in leadership development—and trust it—the cockpit will continue to be flown from abroad.