Budget airline IndiGo's president Aditya Ghosh resigns; company appoints Rahul Bhatia as interim CEO

Low-cost carrier IndiGo’s President Aditya Ghosh has put in his papers after a decade of piloting the airline, helping it garner a majority share of the world’s fastest growing major domestic aviation market. A company statement, on Friday, said that Ghosh “is resigning from the post of President of IndiGo effective 31 July, 2018, and as a Director of the company with effect from April 26, 2018.” [caption id=“attachment_2396236” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh. Image courtesy: IndiGo.[/caption] Over the past decade, the airline, under his leadership, garnered a 39.7 percent share of the Indian aviation market, as of end-March 2018. “For the last ten years, it has been a relentless, exhilarating and a most satisfying task building IndiGo,” Ghosh was quoted as saying in the statement. “It is now time for me to step off the treadmill and sometime in the near future embark on my next adventure. I wish all my colleagues at IndiGo the very best as they move on to the next phase of growth.” Consequent to Ghosh’s resignation, the company has appointed the airline’s co-founder Rahul Bhatia as its interim chief executive officer (CEO). “Rahul will continue as a Director of the company,” the statement said. Furthermore, the company announced the appointment of Gregory Taylor (Greg) as a senior advisor reporting directly to Bhatia. “In the coming months, the Board will consider the appointment of Greg as President and CEO of the company, subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals and paperwork,” the statement added. That apart, IndiGo could also appoint Willy Boulter, former vice-president of commercial strategy at Etihad Airways, as Chief Strategy Officer, reported CNBCTV18. Neither IndiGo nor Ghosh provided a reason for his departure, but the statement did quote Ghosh as saying that he would embark on his “next adventure” some time in the near future. It did not elaborate, reported Reuters. In January, IndiGo appointed Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as Chief Operating Officer. The airline has a fleet of 160 Airbus A320 aircraft and six ATRs. It operates over 1,000 flights a day, connecting 50 destinations. IndiGo is owned by the BSE-traded InterGlobe Aviation, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 54,078 crore. The budget airline was founded by Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, a former chief executive of U.S. Airways, in 2006. With inputs from IANS