Ashwani Lohani Succeeds Rohit Nandan as CMD of Air India Thursday Aug 20,2015

 

In a surprise choice, Ashwani Lohani, a Railway Service officer who is now the chief of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC), was today appointed as CMD of Air India, the state-run carrier whose combined losses currently stood at Rs 30,000 crore.

Ashwani Lohani Lohani is presently working as Managing Director of MPTDC in Bhopal.

An engineer-turned-bureaucrat, Lohani, who is the first Railway Service officer to be made the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, will succeed Rohit Nandan, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS officer.Rohit Nandan was appointed to the post in August 2011 for a three-year period. He was, however, given extension which is ending this month

The appointment of Lohani as AI chief for a three-year period from the day he takes charge came at a time when the airline is surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package for 10 years approved in April 2012 under a Turn Around Plan/Financial Restructuring Plan.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet approved the appointment of Lohani, a 1980 batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME) officer, as CMD, Air India Ltd for a tenure of three years, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said on Thursday Aug 20,2015

Note

Air India reported a net loss of Rs 5,547.47 crore in 2014-15 on the back of total revenues of Rs 19,781 crore. While the loss was wider than the previous fiscal, the airline managed to trim it from the 2012-13 figure of Rs 7,559.74 crore.
The national carrier's financial performance during 2014-15 fell well short of its internal estimates, which had pegged the net loss at Rs 4,346 crore and revenues around Rs 21,290 crore. Besides, the carrier is sitting on a debt pile of Rs 50,000 crore and its combined losses stand at a whopping Rs 30,000 crore.