Why did Tewolde Gebremariam choose Air India over Pakistan International Airlines?  

Tewolde Gebremariam, former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, had the option to lead Air India or Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), with both the legacy carriers going through their transformational journey. He chose to run Air India under Tata, keeping in mind its clear execution and expansion roadmap despite facing huge operational losses.

During his decade-plus tenure as CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, Gebremariam spearheaded a multi-billion-dollar expansion, transforming a regional carrier into Africa’s largest, most profitable, and decorated airline group—growing revenue by more than fourfold and fleet size nearly threefold.

He was the top choice of PIA's new private owner, Arif Habib Corporation Limited, but reports cited that it awaited security clearance. The two job offers for the airline executive offered diverse opportunities and challenges. PIA has just started the transformation that Air India started back in 2022 and is towards the final phase.

For Gebremariam, leading an airline in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market provides a challenging but very decisive opportunity in his career. The two airlines are far apart when it comes to the fleet, capacity, routes, and market penetration.

PIA, with an operational fleet of 18 aircraft of 32, has an average age of 18.7 years. PIA is looking to upgrade its fleet, with reports saying the airline is looking at ordering 16 additional Boeing aircraft.

Air India, with a fleet of 187 aircraft, is looking at massive international expansion plans. The airline has an order of over 400 aircraft, including the wide-body Boeing A350S and Airbus single-aisle, longest-range A321XLRs. The average age of Air India’s fleet is 8.7 years, according to Planespotters, a flight tracking application

Gebremariam is widely recognised as one of the most successful aviation chief executives. Air India said his unique strength lies in managing complex operational landscapes, driving cultural transformation, building competitive global hubs, and developing world-class MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) and aviation training infrastructure.

He joins the airline as it faces massive revenue losses, operational challenges, safety and engineering issues, and stiff competition from IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share.