Nipun Aggarwal to replace Campbell Wilson as Air India Express chairman

Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson has stepped down as chairman of the board of Air India Express, the Tata group’s low-cost airline.

The announcement, which was was made internally to airline staff, comes at a time when the group is merging its aviation operations under a unified structure.

Meanwhile, Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial officer (CCO) of Air India and a Tata Sons’ appointee, will take over as chairman, replacing Wilson.

Aggarwal is a board member of Air India Express and has played a central role in managing the integration of AirAsia India with Air India Express, and overseeing route planning and commercial strategy.

“With this structural work largely complete, the focus now shifts to fully leveraging and optimizing the group’s fleet, network, sales, distribution, and loyalty assets,” Wilson reportedly told employees.

Air India’s focus will be on metro-to-metro domestic routes and long-haul international services, while Air India Express will serve tier-I and -II cities along with short-haul international destinations, he said.

Air India’s chief operations officer, Captain Basil Kwauk, will also join the board of Air India Express, replacing Wilson.

Kwauk, an appointee of Singapore Airlines, which holds a 24.1% stake in Air India, is expected to help streamline operations across the group.

Aggarwal, who joined Air India in January 2022 after playing a key role in its acquisition by Tata Sons, oversees several strategic functions, including aircraft acquisition, product development, sales and marketing, loyalty programs, and merger integration across the group.

He is chairman of AISATS and serves on the boards of Air India Express, AIX Connect, and Tata Electronics.

Aggarwal comes with more than 28 years of experience, and has held various leadership roles in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and operations.

Before joining Air India, he was senior vice-president at Tata Sons, contributing to the strategic transformation and restructuring of several Tata group entities.

He has a post-graduate diploma in management from IIM Calcutta and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.