New Delhi, June 23 -- Former Air India Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) and former Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola has returned to Air India with immediate effect as Executive Director to the Chairman, according to sources in the airline.

Kharola previously served as Chairman and Managing Director of Air India from 2017 to 2019, when the airline was under government ownership. He later served as Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and was associated with the airline's privatisation process.

Air India was fully privatised in 2022, with the Tata Group winning the bid for the airline. The privatisation of Air India was first approved in 2017, with the government putting out an Expression of Interest (EOI) in 2018...