Suspense over the appointment of Air-India's managing director continues with no official word coming till late Thursday evening on the successor of J N Gogoi, whose tenure as the acting MD of the international flagship comes to an end.
However, there were strong indications that Raghu Menon, joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry, could head the airline from Friday. He is likely to be given temporary additional charge of Air-India, official sources said.
Before joining the civil aviation ministry a few months ago, Menon, an officer of the Assam-Nagaland cadre of Indian Administrative Service, had served the information and broadcasting ministry.
It was possible that a notification would be issued only after the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet formally cleared the proposal. The clearance could be post-facto also, they said.
The appointment of an MD assumes significance as Air-India was in the process of acquiring about 20 aircraft involving an outlay of over $2 billion. No final decision has, however, been taken on it as yet.