New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs will conduct a detailed background examination of Ilkar Ayci, the newly-appointed Managing Director and CEO of Air India, which has been controlled by the Tata group. Official sources said on Sunday that as per the established practice, background checks of all foreign nationals appointed to important posts in India are done and in the case of Ayci too, this practice will be followed with utmost sincerity.
The Tata group had recently announced the appointment of Turkish national Ayci as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Air India. Tata took control of the airline from the government in late January. According to sources, the Home Ministry is yet to receive any communication from either the Tata Group or the Ministry of Civil Aviation regarding the appointment of the IG. As soon as this information is received, the entire process of security checks will be started.
Since Ayci is a citizen of Turkey, the Ministry of Home Affairs can also take help from India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to gather information about him. Ayci has also served as an advisor to the current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan used to be the mayor of Istanbul during this period of 1994-98.
Ayci was the chairman of Turkish Airlines from 2015 to early 2022 before joining Air India. He is credited with transforming this airline.
