New Delhi: Sharad Kumar has taken over charge as Member (Operations) of Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Monday. Prior to this, he was serving as Airport Director at Chennai International Airport.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had approved his appointment on April 28. According to an earlier order issued on April 28, Dr Kumar has been appointed to the post for a period with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post till the date of his superannuation i.e. October 31, 2025, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Dr Kumar is a Graduate of Civil Engineering from the South Gujarat University of SVNIT, India, and MBA in Human Resource Management. He holds a Ph. D., in Management from KIITS, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India. He has addressed various seminars on aviation matters in India and abroad and is a sought after key note speaker on such forums.

Dr Kumar has over 30 years of experience and expertise in Construction, maintenance & modification of Airports in India. He started his career in AAI in 1990 at Jammu Airport and later worked in diverse capacities in various Airports in India like Mumbai, Delhi CHQ, Goa, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Sikkim, covering all 05 regions. He was instrumental in the day-to-day operation & smooth functioning of Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar and Srinagar International Airport as Airport Director before joining Chennai.

"Kumar will be responsible for airport management, airport facilitation and IT, services, up-keep and maintenance of airport infrastructure, for safety and rescue services, including logistic support, security, liaison and co-ordination activities, promoting indigenisation under Aatmanirbhar scheme of the government," AAI said in a release.

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