Air India may soon have new faces in key posts

Air India may soon have new faces as heads of the crucial divisions of finance, commercial and personnel to help the ailing national carrier come out of the financial rut.

Preliminary discussions have already been held between the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Public Enterprises Selection Board to appoint professionals to run these important divisions, official sources said.

They said the three key departments needed effective heads to guide their performance and restore the lost glory of the national carrier. Several key officials have quit the national carrier over the past few months for a variety of reasons.

They include Air India's first Chief Operating Officer Gustav Baldauf, Chief of Training Stefan Sukumar and Air India Express COO Pawan Arora. Two important members of the airline Board also put in their papers --  Mahindra & Mahindra Vice-Chairman Anand Mahindra and Amit Mitra who is now West Bengal Finance Minister.

Asked about speculation that AI CMD Arvind Jadhav was on his way out, the sources said this was a 'deliberate attempt' to further weaken the airline. "How can the captain of a ship in trouble be removed at this juncture"? they said. Jadhav, a 1978 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, has been facing flak from unions which had gone on strike twice since he was appointed full-time CMD in May 2009.