IndiGo chief executive Pieter Elbers has abruptly resigned from the carrier, just over three years since taking helm, and in the wake of an well-publicised operational meltdown in late 2025.
The low-cost operator on 10 March said Elbers’ resignation takes immediate effect. Airline founder and managing director Rahul Bhatia returns to the helm as the airline’s interim CEO.
A search for a new CEO is underway, IndiGo confirms. Bhatia, who also hails from IndiGo parent InterGlobe Enterprises, will “in the interim assume management of the affairs of the airline until such time that the company announces the arrival of a new leader”.
In his resignation letter, Elbers says he is stepping down “due to personal reasons”, adding that he is requesting that the resignation notice period be waived.
“It has been both an [honour] and privilege to serve as IndiGo’s CEO these past years, since September 2022, and being a part of the great IndiGo family, [its] beautiful growth story and the steps we have made together in this,” he writes.
Elbers joined IndiGo from KLM, and oversaw the airline’s ambitious post-pandemic growth plans, including its first widebody orders, for Airbus A350s, and network expansion into Europe.
But IndiGo suffered significant operational disruption between 3 and 5 December, delaying and cancelling thousands of flights across its network. On 5 December cancellations peaked at over 1,000 flights – more than half its daily schedules.
The crisis has brought the airline under intense regulatory scrutiny, culminating in a Rs222 million ($2.4 million) fine and its senior leadership – including Elbers – being put on notice by Indian regulators.
The disruptions also impacted IndiGo’s finances, with the airline taking a Rs5.8 billion hit to its earnings for the October-December period.
