Air India Express gets a new chairman, board member
Air India Express new chairman, Nipun Aggarwal
In a strategic move, Air India Group has initiated a board-level rejig at its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express (AIX) to bring in greater coordination between the budget and full-service carriers.
Accordingly, Campbell Wilson, CEO of Air India, has stepped down as chairman of the low-cost carrier. Wilson is succeeded by Nipun Aggarwal, a board member of AIX.
Besides his new role, Aggarwal will continue his duties as Air India’s Chief Commercial Officer.
The move was communicated to employees by Wilson via an internal communication, which has been reviewed by businessline.
Structural changes
In the communication, Wilson told employees that over the past 18 months, many structural changes critical to transforming the rebuilding of the Group have been completed.
He listed the recent merger of four airlines into two, consolidation of non-flying teams in Gurugram, and refreshing the leadership teams of both Air India and Air India Express as the completed tasks.
“With this structural work largely complete, the task at hand now is to fully leverage and optimise the group’s fleet, network, sales, distribution, and loyalty assets. I’ve therefore decided that the time is right for me to step down as Chairman of the Air India Express Board…,” he said in the internal communication.
“Concurrently, to ensure operational synergy between the airlines, Captain Basil Kwauk, Air India Chief Operations Officer, will replace me on the Air India Express Board once the necessary regulatory approvals are secured.”
Sources told businessline, that the group CEO was no longer required to oversee the LCC, as the structural changes like the merger, leadership renewal, system interfacing, and better communication and collaboration structures between the full-service and low-cost airlines have been achieved.
“AIX will greatly benefit as Aggarwal and Kwauk take stronger roles on the AIX board. The move will usher in more productivity as commercial functions and operations are well coordinated,” sources told businessline.
“Wilson will obviously remain responsible for the overall group’s performance. He can step in if the need arises.”
Presently, Air India Express operates over 500 daily flights. It connects 39 domestic and 17 international airports with a fleet of 110 aircraft.
Businessline had earlier reported that the airline plans to scale up its domestic network, add more aircraft, and increase daily flight frequencies in FY26.
The airline is guided by a five-year-long transformation programme, known as V1Rise.
Published on April 22, 2025
