Meet Mehmet Ilker Ayci, the new ‘Wazir’ of ‘Maharaja’
Ayci was also the advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey
Hyderabad: Mehmet Ilker Ayci, former advisor to Erdogan, has been announced as the new Managing Director and CEO of Air India by the Tata Group on Monday. Tata Group took over Air India from the government last month.
Ilker Ayci worked as the chairman of Turkish Airlines from 2015 to January 27 this year.
Born in Istanbul in 1971, Ayci is a 1994 alumni of Bilkent University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration. He did Masters in International Relations from Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997.
Ayci was also the advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, when the latter was the Mayor of Istanbul.
The Tata Group has hired Ayci, an expatriate to helm the airline keeping in mind its ambition to turn the airline’s global brand around.
Indian Express has quoted Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran as saying: “Ilker is an aviation industry leader who led Turkish Airlines to its current success during his tenure there. We are delighted to welcome Ilker to the Tata Group where he would lead Air India into the new era”.
