Bharath Bhushan named interim CMD of Air India

25 April 2009

E K Bharat Bhushan, financial advisor in aviation ministry, has been given the additional charge of chairman and managing director (CMD) in place of Raghu Menon, who has proceeded on leave ahead of his retirement.

Air India is hunting for a new person to steer the country's flag ship carrier out of the current economic turbulence.

A high-level committee, headed by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, yesterday shortlisted a few names for the top post in the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), the holding company of the national carrier, reports said.

The front-runner for the CMD's post is reported to be Arvind Jadhav, a 1978 batch IAS officer who is now principal secretary to the Karnataka government.

Another bureaucrat in the race is Arvind Mayaram, also a 1978 batch officer of Rajasthan cadre who is financial advisor and additional secretary in the union rural development ministry.

The meeting, which was also attended by civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar, also shortlisted about 10 people for the post of chairman of the newly-established Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).