Aditya Ghosh to step down as IndiGo President, Rahul Bhatia to be interim CEO

In a surprise development, IndiGo today announced that Aditya Ghosh will step down as President and is likely to be replaced by one of its former executives Gregory Taylor.

It said Rahul Bhatia, a promoter of the company, has been appointed as the interim CEO.

The development comes amid the airline embarking on ambitious expansion plans and some of its A320 neo aircraft facing engine issues.

Ghosh has stepped down as Whole Time Director of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, effective from April 26 while his resignation as President would come into effect from July 31. The resignation was accepted during the board meeting today.

InterGlobe Aviation said Taylor, a former executive at the airline, has been appointed as a Senior Advisor and would report 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," InterGlobe said in a statement.

Ghosh, who has been with the airline for ten years, said it has been a most satisfying task building IndiGo.

"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," he said.

During 2016 and 2017, Taylor was the Executive Vice President of Revenue Management and Network Planning at IndiGo.

Prior to that, he had served in various senior management roles at United Airlines and US Airways in the areas of corporate planning, strategy, network planning, fleet planning, finance, cost management and airline express operations, the statement said.

Bhatia told employees that Ghosh wishes to explore starting a new business venture and that the airline respects his decision to do so.

"I am very excited to announce the return of Greg Taylor as Senior Advisor to the company, reporting directly to me. As many of you know, Greg is no stranger to IndiGo having been our Executive Vice President of Revenue Management & Network Planning during 2016-17," he said in a message.

In a separate message to employees, Ghosh said that in about three months, it would be ten years for him in his role as the President of IndiGo and twelve years since IndiGo took to the sky.

"I was 32 then. From 18 airplanes ten years ago to over a 160 today. More than a thousand daily flights. An eight-fold increase in topline over the past decade.

"Now sitting at a market cap of over Rs 55,000 crore with the stock price nearly double of the IPO price two and a half years back," he said in the message.

He noted that IndiGo is the largest and most profitable airline in the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

Welcoming Taylor, Bhatia said his enormous and varied experience and understanding of the complexities of the airline industry would be invaluable to the airline's future plans.

"At the same time, we thank Aditya (Ghosh) for all his hard work and contributions and for the successes that the company has enjoyed," he added.

IndiGo, which has a fleet of 160 aircraft, is the country's largest airline with a market share of nearly 40 per cent.