IndiGo’s Dutta to resign as CEO, KLM’s Elbers to take over

IndiGo, India’s top airline, said Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta will step down effective Sept. 30, and named the chief of Air France-KLM’s Dutch unit as his replacement. 

Pieter Elbers will join IndiGo by Oct. 1, pending regulatory approvals, IndiGo said in a statement to stock exchanges on Wednesday. Elbers’s term as the head of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is ending on July 1.

IndiGo has seen a slew of top level executives quit in recent months, with Chief Commercial Officer Willy Boulter as well as finance chief Jiten Chopra deciding to leave earlier this year. The departures came after billionaire co-founder Rahul Bhatia was appointed to a newly-created executive role of managing director in February, while fellow co-founder Rakesh Gangwal stepped down from the airline’s board.

“This was expected,” said Mark Martin, founder of Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC, which advises the aviation industry. “Dutta and Bhatia had a difference of opinion on taking the airline to the next step. Dutta was the one who brought in all the expat managers, whereas Bhatia still wanted to retain that Indian way of functioning.” 

As Bhatia understands the Indian aviation market, he will still be the boss for IndiGo overall, Martin said. The airline’s strategy and direction will be in Bhatia’s hands, while the new chief executive’s job will be more about managing the carrier, Martin said. 

Elber’s key focus should be IndiGo’s international expansion, given the carrier is saturated in the Indian market, Martin said. The carrier should look at flying to lucrative international points such as Europe and the U.S. and buying wide-body aircraft, he said. 

Dutta in November said IndiGo—the world’s biggest customer for Airbus SE’s best-selling A320neo jets—has no intention to fly routes such as London that require wide-body aircraft. While the carrier mulled over wide-body operations for a long time, it decided it won’t compete with Air India Ltd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s Indian venture Vistara, which as full-service carriers have a stronger foothold in the long-haul market, Dutta said.

IndiGo has been tapping international destinations in the seven-hour range from India such as Moscow, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Nairobi, Bali, Beijing and Manila. Dutta said international routes will account for 40% of IndiGo’s capacity in five years, up from the current 25%.

Dutta’s resignation also comes amid an investigation by the Indian aviation regulator into the airline’s decision to disallow a disabled teenage boy from boarding because he could cause a disturbance and become a safety threat. The regulator’s initial inquiry showed IndiGo didn’t comply with regulations and inappropriately handled passengers.