Who Is Ilker Ayci? Former Turkish Airlines Chairman And New Air India MD & CEO

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Who Is Ilker Ayci? Former Turkish Airlines Chairman And New Air India MD & CEO

In their official release on February 14, Tata Group said: "The Air India board met this afternoon to consider the candidature of Mr. Ilker Ayci. Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was a special invitee to this board meeting."

The Tata Group on Monday (February 14) officially announced the appointment of Ilker Ayci, former Turkish Airlines Chairman, as the new Managing Director and CEO of Air India, effective on or before April 1. The development aligns with the Tata Group's objectives to appoint an expatriate chief to effectively run the airline it took over from the Government of India last month.

Who Is Ilker Ayci?

According to the Tata Group statement, born in Istanbul in 1971, Ilker Ayci is the 1994 alumni of Bilkent University's Department of Political Science and Public Administration. Upon a research stay on political science at the Leeds University in the UK in 1995, Ayci went on to complete an International Relations Master's program at the Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997.

Since 2015, Ayci has been operating as the chairman of Turkish Airlines. The airline announced his resignation from the post on January 27 this year — the same day the Indian government had handed over Air India to the Tata Group.

During his professional career, the 51-year-old was acting as the advisor to the then Mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul. It is here where he had taken part in a number of development projects in Turkey's largest city. Currently, Erdoğan is the President of Turkey.

Tata Group's Statement

In their official release on February 14, Tata Group said: "The Air India board met this afternoon to consider the candidature of Mr. Ilker Ayci. Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was a special invitee to this board meeting."

It also added how the board, upon due deliberations, came to the decision to approve the appointment of Ayci as the CEO & MD of Air India and that his appointment is subject to requisite regulatory approvals as well, reported The New Indian Express.

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