Mr Right?

Perhaps, there is no one better than a “turnaround man” to take over Air India at this crucial juncture—the Maharaja is facing intense competition, the pilots are threatening to agitate, the airline is facing problems with it fleet and then there is the constant need to guard and expand the revenues.

   But the question experts are asking is if Ashwani Lohani, nicknamed “the specialist turnaround man”, has the kind of credentials required to deal with something Air India’s size. He became the national airline’s Chairman and Managing Director on August 31.

 After all, the airline is just setting out on the path of recovery after being on the ventilator for most of last decade. Air India’s losses narrowed to ₹5,547.47 crore in fiscal 2013 from ₹7,559.74 crore in fiscal 2012. But it still faces humongous problems.

One thing is for sure, Lohani has to hit the ground running. A 1980 batch officer of the Indian Railways Services of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Lohani was most recently the Chief Administrative Officer of the Indian Railway Organisation for Alternate Fuels, a subordinate organisation of the Railway Board.

 Though Lohani has a career spanning over three decades during which he held various posts including working as the Director, National Rail Museum, his stint at Air India is going to be the most high profile one till date.

 This is not to belittle Lohani’s earlier achievements. As Director of the National Rail Museum, Lohani successfully piloted the nomination of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway as a World Heritage Site in 1999.

 He was also instrumental in setting up of the Locosteam engine museum in Alwar, Rajasthan. “Lohani is passionate about steam engines. He came in at a time when steam engines were being phased out very fast. Lohani leapt into action and ensured that this old piece of rail history was kept alive,” recalls a colleague who worked with him closely.

 Similarly, it was during his tenure that Madhya Pradesh became one of the top states to attract tourists and its television commercial of being the heart of India captured eyeballs.

 It is probably this “can do” spirit in Lohani which made him tweet a confident message soon after he was appointed to the top job in Air India: “Like always I shall not fail this time also, perhaps my last innings in the service to the Nation, is a promise that I have made to myself”.

 Lohani is also a man who believes in taking people along. Railway employees recall an incident where he asked those opposing some of the changes he was trying to bring about to try out the suggestions for a month. He also asked them to try out what they wanted for another month, and then decide which was the best approach to follow.

Of course, like with all high profile postings Lohani’s shift to Air India has generated a lot of negative chatter. Some point out to his career graph to show that he has always got plum postings when the Bharatiya Janata Party is in power at the Centre. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, Lohani was appointed Chairman and Managing Director of the state run-Indian Tourism Development Corporation. He held that post for about 18 months till December 2002. 

 But his fans are quick to defend the 57-year-old’s record. “He is the adventurous type who like to takes on challenges. At the time when the Government was selling ITDC properties he decided to take on the challenge and turned around the flagship Ashok in Delhi,” recalls a BJP sympathiser who has been tracking Lohani’s career.

Bureaucrats  BusinessLine  spoke to agree that Lohani is a “clean and good worker”. However, many are also quick to point out that there is nothing spectacular about the man. Others pitied the tight spot that Lohani finds himself in with one former civil servant who has been on the airline’s board going as far as to say: “No one, not even God can save Air India.” Adds another Air India watcher, “Not being from the IAS will be a big challenge for Lohani. The tribe of IAS officials can be difficult to outsiders.”

 V. Subramanian, who was Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism when Lohani was a Director remembers him as a “hard working and good chap” and feels that there is nothing wrong in a Railways services officer heading Air India. “At least he has had a long tenure in the tourism field,” Subramanian says.

 For Lohani the stint with Air India is a case of being “second time lucky”. Earlier during Vajpayee’s Prime Ministership he was thought to be in the race for the top post.

Whether the decision to move him to Air India in place of Rohit Nandan is a political one or not, it is clear that Lohani will require more than just political blessings to turnaround Air India.

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