SIA’s Leslie Thng named Scoot new CEO, Campbell Wilson quits to helm Air India
Fiona Lam
FLAG carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Thursday (May 12) announced that Campbell Wilson has resigned as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its low-cost carrier subsidiary, Scoot.
His last day at Scoot is Jun 15, and he will subsequently join Air India as its new CEO.
Leslie Thng, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at SIA , will take over as Scoot’s chief on Jun 16.
Thng, 47, has been with the group for 23 years. Prior to his current role, he was CEO of Vistara, SIA’s Indian joint venture with Tata Sons, between October 2017 and December 2021.
Before that, Thng was chief commercial officer of Scoot from May 2016 to October 2017, and CEO of SIA’s regional carrier SilkAir from August 2012 to May 2016.
Goh Choon Phong, CEO of SIA, noted that Thng led Vistara through a significant period of growth in its domestic and international business, and has also had a broad range of management experience within the SIA group.
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Wilson, 50, joined SIA in 1996. He has been CEO of Scoot since April 2020, and was previously senior vice-president of sales and marketing at SIA from September 2016 to March 2020.
Wilson was Scoot’s founding CEO between 2011 and 2016, back when it was still a long-haul low-cost carrier and before its merger with short-haul low-cost carrier Tiger. He has also run SIA’s overseas operations in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan.
Goh said Wilson is one of the group’s most experienced senior executives, who has made many important contributions in key management roles. He added that Wilson is going to the “new and exciting role” at Air India “with our full blessings”.
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Meanwhile, Tata Sons, the new owner of Air India, on Thursday announced that the airline’s board has approved Wilson’s appointment, subject to regulatory approvals.
The Tata group completed its purchase of Air India from the government in January. Before Wilson’s appointment, Turkish Airlines’ former chairman Ilker Ayci had turned down the role of Air India CEO, which he was expected to assume in April. Reuters reported that this followed opposition in India over Ayci’s previous political links.
Shares of SIA fell S$0.08 or 1.5 per cent to close at S$5.17 on Thursday, before the latest announcement.
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