The double life of Ilker Ayci, Tatas’ pick to head Air India

Ilker Ayci is more than the successful former chairman of Turkish Airlines. He has a side to him that should set off alarm bells.

Was Mehmet Ilker Ayci a star chairman who took Turkish Airlines to new heights or a dictatorial leader who loved to divide and rule? 

Two extreme views emerged after we spoke to executives in India and Turkey to understand the person who in April is set to take over as the chief executive officer and managing director of Air India. That’s the most important aviation job in India right now, after the airline changed owners from the government to the Tatas. On 14 February, Tata Sons had named Ayci, who stepped down as chairman of Turkish Airlines on 27 January, …

Author

Prince M. Thomas

Prince leads the newsroom at The Morning Context as managing editor. A fascination with the written word has taken Prince to some of the leading newsrooms across the country, including The Economic Times, Dow Jones Newswires, Forbes India and Moneycontrol. In a career spanning 20 years, Prince has led teams, managed pages, projects and special editions, and has authored The Consolidators, published by Penguin Random House in 2017.

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