Mahendra Nair is the Group Vice President for Commercial Programs at GE Aerospace responsible for all engines across their lifecycle from NPI to service maturity, supporting a fleet of more than 12000 engines at over 375 customers across Wide body markets. He has additional responsibility for the company’s SaaS (Software as a Service) portfolio and Aviage Systems, a 50:50 JV with AVIC in China.
Prior to this, Mahendra was Senior Vice President, Technicals Operations at Delta Air Lines leading a technical team of 13,000 employees supporting a fleet of ~950 aircraft where he oversaw Line, Base, Cabin, Component & Engine Maintenance, Engineering, Quality & Safety, TechOps logistics & support along with the TechOps Supply Chain organization and IFEC team. He started at Delta Air Lines in January 2020 as Senior Vice President – Fleet & TechOps Supply Chain and was at the helm of one of Delta’s largest pandemic accomplishments – accelerating fleet strategy to retire ~200 older, inefficient aircraft while deferring aircraft orders, strategically acquiring 42 used aircraft, negotiating and implementing Fast & Free WiFi. Additionally, he led the team to acquire up to 130 Boeing MAX10s powered by LEAP-1B along with a CFM Branded Service Agreement (CBSA) for Delta TechOps.
Before joining Delta, he was General Manager, GEnx Product Line leading the lifecycle product management including orders, production, delivery, services & Support of the GEnx engine, the best-selling widebody powerplant for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 747-8. Prior to that, Mahendra was Vice President, Americas Sales for GE Aviation. In this role, he was responsible for Commercial Engines & Engine Services solutions for North, Central & South American airline customers and MRO providers. In 2011, he became the General Manager of Customized Services Agreements at GE Aviation Services and managed the growth of the long-term services contract’s portfolio for six years. He received the GE Chairman’s Leadership Award in 2015 for his work in driving digital tools & analytics in the management of the Engine Services contracts portfolio.
Mahendra joined GE in 2000 and grew through multiple commercial and marketing roles, including Business Development Manager at GE Corporate in India, Strategic Marketing Manager, Regional Marketing Manager, and GE90 Business Operations.
Prior to GE, he held Sales Manager positions in India with consumer goods companies, including Cadbury and Godrej group JVs with P&G and Sara Lee Corporation managing teams with Sales & Marketing responsibilities.
He has an MBA in Sales & Marketing and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Mumbai, India.