Air India, a leading airline owned by the Tata Group, has announced the appointment of Captain Klaus Goersch as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, with immediate effect.

In this new role, Capt. Klaus, a licensed B777/787 pilot, will oversee crucial sections of Air India, including Flight Operations, Engineering, Ground Operations, Integrated Operations Control (IOCC), and Cabin Crew. Based at the headquarters in Gurugram, India, he will assume the responsibilities previously held by Captain RS Sandhu, who recently retired from the extended role of Chief of Operations and will now serve on the advisory board of the group for four airlines, including handling operating procedures for Airbus A350 as well as, establishing a new training academy.

Before taking on this new role, Capt. Klaus served as the Chief Executive Officer at KSA Airline NEOM. He also held leadership roles as COO and EVP at British Airways and Air Canada in the past.

Welcoming Capt. Klaus to the leadership team, Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director of the airline, stated, 'We are pleased to have Klaus join the Air India family. Having worked at some of the best airlines in the world, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that is valuable to the ongoing transformation at Air India. At Air India, we remain committed to building top leadership as we continue to invest in all the resources required to take the airline to the upper echelons of global aviation.'

Additionally, the airline has bolstered its senior management team with the appointment of Capt. Manish Uppal as Senior VP of Flight Operations, Capt. Henry Donohoe as Senior VP of Safety, Security, and Quality, overseeing Emergency Response, Pankaj Handa will lead Ground Operations, Choorah Singh as Divisional VP of Integrated Operations Control, JuLi Ng as Divisional VP of Cabin Crew, and Sisira Kanta Dash as Senior VP of Engineering.

Furthermore, Rajesh Dogra takes over as the Global Head of Inflight Product and Service Design functions from Sandeep Verma, in addition to his current Chief Customer Experience Officer role, to oversee all customer interfaces.

Announcing the leadership changes, CEO and MD Wilson added, “These changes have been made with a view to managing succession, streamlining the organisation, optimizing talent from within the Tata airline group, and positioning it strongly for future growth and success.”