GURUGRAM- Singapore Airlines or SIA (SQ) has nominated its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Goh Choon Phong, to represent the company on the Air India (AI) board.
Further, PB Balaji, the Group Chief Financial Officer at Tata Motors, will also be joining Air India’s board.
Singapore Airlines CEO to Join Air India
These appointments are set to be taken up and approved by Air India’s board after the Ministry of Civil Aviation grants its consent to SIA’s investment, which will give the Singaporean carrier a 25.1% stake in the airline.
The developments come as Vistara, the joint venture between SIA and Tata Group, is being merged into Air India effective November 12th. The integration of the two carriers is a key part of Tata’s strategy to consolidate its aviation business under the Air India brand.
“We can confirm that SQ will have a seat on the Air India board once the transaction has been completed. Our board nominee will be announced at the appropriate time,” said a spokesperson for SIA told ET.
The Air India board is set to hold a meeting to discuss key areas for the way forward following the official merger of Vistara into Air India. Vistara is a joint venture between SIA and India’s Tata Group.
SIA’s Chief Executive Officer, Goh Choon Phong, will be nominated to represent the company on the Air India board. Goh has been with SIA since 1990 and has held senior management roles across various business divisions.
Additionally, PB Balaji, the Group Chief Financial Officer at Tata Motors, will also be joining the Air India board. Balaji joined Tata Motors in 2017 and has been credited for steering the automaker’s financial turnaround.
Hamish Maxwell, a SIA employee who previously headed flight operations for Vistara, has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India.
Air India in Pilot Seat
The Tata Group will take the lead in Air India’s management, with key roles being appointed by the conglomerate. SIA, meanwhile, will send officials to support flight operations and engineering at the merged entity.
The spokesperson also indicated to ET that SIA will send more officials on secondment to Air India as the airline implements its multi-hub strategy. The two carriers finalized their merger plan in November 2022.
The Tata Group had sought approval from Singapore Airlines (SIA) to bid for Air India, on the condition that the Singaporean carrier would get a stake and a board position in the merged entity. This agreement paved the way for the integration of Vistara, Tata’s joint venture with SIA, into Air India.
Through this merger, the combined Air India group will have a 29% market share in the Indian aviation market, giving SIA a strong foothold in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation sectors.
SIA’s multi-hub strategy involves taking equity stakes in airlines across different countries, as the domestic market in Singapore is relatively small.
As Goh Choon Phong, SIA’s CEO, has previously stated, this approach allows the company to “participate directly in the growth in that particular region or country, in a way that we cannot do if we are just based in Singapore.”
Vistara currently operates 11 international routes from India, which Singapore Airlines would not have been able to service on its own from its home base. The merger, therefore, aligns with SIA’s strategic objective of expanding its presence in the fast-growing Indian aviation market.
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