IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issues fresh message; Says ‘worst is behind us’ as airline restores 2,200 flights
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday reassured employees that the airline has turned a corner after a turbulent phase, declaring that “the worst is behind us” as operations stabilised and the carrier restored its network to 2,200 flights.
In a video message to staff, Elbers said IndiGo had “found its wings again” following weeks of operational stress that saw hundreds of flights cancelled nationwide starting December 2.
He thanked pilots, cabin crew, airport staff, operations control, and customer service teams for steering the airline through what he described as an extremely challenging period.
“Through the storm, we are finding our wings again. The worst is behind us. These last two weeks have been very challenging for all of us,” Elbers said, adding that the speed of recovery reflected the airline’s scale, discipline and teamwork.
He noted that steps taken since December 9 helped stabilise operations and rapidly rebuild capacity. “After that, we restored our network to 2,200 flights today. Given our scale and complexity, recovering from such a situation in a short time is a testament to our teamwork and the strength of our operating principles,” he said.
Outlining the road ahead, the IndiGo CEO identified three priorities — resilience, root cause analysis and rebuilding. On resilience, he flagged the onset of the IROP season and stressed the need to keep operations stable while minimising the impact of external factors on passengers.
On the root cause analysis, Elbers urged caution against speculation, saying the disruption appeared to be the result of a compounding effect of several factors. He confirmed that an external aviation expert appointed by the board would conduct a comprehensive review.
On rebuilding, Elbers said the leadership team would travel across the network to engage directly with employees, understand challenges faced on the ground and gather feedback. “A combination of this root cause analysis and your input will help us build IndiGo even stronger and even better,” he said.
Urging staff not to let the recent disruption define the airline’s legacy, Elbers reflected on IndiGo’s 19-year journey from a single aircraft in 2006 to a workforce of 65,000 and over 850 million customers flown.
Concluding his message, he reaffirmed IndiGo’s core values of reliability, accessibility, discipline and customer focus. “From here on, onwards and upwards,” he said.
Meanwhile, IndiGo’s parent company InterGlobe Aviation saw its stock react positively to the developments. The shares opened flat at ₹4,980 on the BSE but rose over 2% during intraday trade, touching ₹5,099.45 by 11:55 am.
On the regulatory front, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday disposed of a fresh public interest litigation against IndiGo over mass flight cancellations and passenger hardship, noting that similar issues are already under consideration in an earlier pending writ petition.