Airline CEOs Are Under Fire – and Walking Away

After weeks of the industry rumor mill running red hot, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson is leaving the carrier. The airline insists the move has long been planned – an orderly transition, executed on its own terms – but the timing and context are difficult to ignore. 

He is the latest in a growing list of airline CEOs stepping down. Each exit has its own official explanation but do they collectively point to something sharper?

At Air India, Wilson is leaving after nearly four years leading one of aviation’s most complex turnarounds. His tenure saw sweeping structural change, from a record aircraft order to the integration of former rival Vistara. Yet it also coincided with mounting regulatory scrutiny and the fallout from a fatal crash that continues to cast a long shadow.

Just last month, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers exited abruptly after a December operational meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers and damaged the airline’s