Comments
Air India Appoints Capt Klaus Goersch as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer
Air India has made significant changes to its leadership team, with the appointment of Capt Klaus Goersch to the newly created role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. In this role, Capt Goersch will oversee Flight Operations, Engineering, Ground Operations, Integrated Operations Control (IOCC), and Cabin Crew functions.
Capt Goersch, a licensed B777/787 pilot with extensive experience in the aviation industry, has held similar positions at both British Airways and Air Canada. He will be based at Air India’s new headquarters in Gurugram. The incumbent Chief of Operations, Capt RS Sandhu, who extended his service with Air India, will transition to an advisory role. He will focus on harmonizing operating procedures for the Tata airlines, managing the Airbus A350 entry-into-service program, and assisting in establishing Air India’s new Training Academy.
Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director of Air India, welcomed Capt Goersch, stating, “We are pleased to have Klaus join the Air India family. Having worked at some of the best airlines in the world, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that is valuable to the ongoing transformation at Air India.”
Other appointments
Air India has also made other senior appointments to strengthen its management team. Capt Manish Uppal, formerly of Air Asia India, has been appointed as Senior Vice President, Flight Operations. Capt Henry Donohoe’s Corporate Safety, Security, and Quality role will now include Emergency Response, and he will be retitled Senior Vice President Safety, Security, and Quality.
Pankaj Handa will lead Ground Operations, Choorah Singh has been appointed as Divisional Vice President, Integrated Operations Control, and JuLi Ng joins as Divisional Vice President Cabin Crew. All these individuals will report to Capt Goersch, as will Capt Uppal and Mr Sisira Kanta Dash, Senior Vice President Engineering.
The Inflight Product & Service Design functions, previously headed by Sandeep Verma, will now be overseen by Mr Rajesh Dogra in his Customer Experience portfolio to provide comprehensive oversight of all customer interfaces.
Capt Goersch, Dogra, and Capt Donohoe will report directly to Mr Wilson, along with existing Management Committee members Nipun Aggarwal, Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Dr Suresh Dutt Tripathi, and Mr Vinod Hejmadi, whose roles remain unchanged.
These organizational changes have been made with an eye on succession planning, streamlining the organization, and optimizing talent within the Tata airline group. Air India aims to position itself strongly for future growth and success.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.