Mumbai, May 22 (IANS) Air India Chief Executive Campbell Wilson has said his successor will have “hands full” as the carrier struggles with a ban on using Pakistan’s airspace, fallout from the Iran war and higher operating costs due to strong US dollar.

Speaking at an event in New York, Wilson said he would depart the company within two months and the next four years would be “just as challenging as the past, albeit in a different way.”

He pledged to help ensure a smooth transition, and said he wants “to make sure the right person is in place to carry forward” a handful of challenges.

Air India has reported heavy losses, faced a series of safety lapses, and saw its 787 Dreamliner crash in June 2025, killing hundreds. The carrier has also been forced to cancel thousands of flights due to the Iran war and the Pakistan airspace ban.

Flights in profitable international routes to North America have been scaled back, and existing flights face longer journeys, adding costs amid high fuel prices.

“We now can’t fly over many parts of the Gulf, so we have to take an even longer routing. An eight-and-a-half-hour flight from Delhi to ‌London now takes 12 (hours),” Wilson said.

Wilson mentioned that the cost of fuel has doubled from 34 per cent of the carrier’s cost before the ‌US-Iran war.

Apart from company specific challenges such as growth and building relationships with staff, the new CEO have to focus on navigating global aviation business challenges such as airspace closures and uncertain fuel prices, he said.

“The platform has been laid, but obviously when you bring aircraft in, you’re going to be operating in a much greater scale quite soon,” he added.

Air India was reprimanded for safety lapses, including flying an aircraft multiple times without a valid airworthiness certificate and without proper emergency equipment checks, according to multiple reports.

Amid the US-Iran war, Air India had cancelled around 2,500 flights to West Asia over three weeks, only running 30 per cent of its normal Middle East schedule.

—IANS

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