Air India will pick a new chief operating officer (COO) by January and prefer someone from the domestic industry, according to a report in ET by Anindya Upadhyay. The airline's board has also created a post of COO for its low-cost arm, Air India Express.

Cash-strapped Air India has been operating without a COO since February when expatriate Gustav Baldauf, who held the post with a hefty pay package, resigned following difference with the government. "We are looking for professionals from the Indian aviation industry this time and would not prefer to have a foreign national, mainly because you can't pay them anything below Rs 3 crore,". Air India chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan said, adding that the new appointment would happen within four months.

The carrier has a debt of Rs 43,000 crore and accumulated losses of over Rs13,000 crore. It has not posted a profit since 2007. "We expect an Indian professional to understand both the milieu and the market better," Nandan said. Experts say the airline desperately needs someone with business acumen at the management level.

"Fifty percent of CEOs of Asia Pacific airlines don't belong to the industry, but they are people who know how to make profits in any business. This is the quality that should be looked in for an Air India COO," Jitendra Bhargav, a former Air India ED and now a commentator on the airline said. The new appointees will report to Nandan.

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