IndiGo
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Contents |
Aircraft, purchase of
2023: largest order in world aviation history
Saurabh Sinha, June 20, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi : IndiGo made history by placing the world’s largest single order by any airline in terms of number of planes — 500 Airbus A320 family single aisle aircraft — at the Paris air show, where exactly 18 years ago it had ordered its first set of 100 A320s. The order is worth almost $50 billion at list price, although IndiGo would have got a hefty discount thanks to the scale and the airline’s impeccable credentials.
India’s largest budget airline has 480 planes pending from previous orders, which will be delivered by the end of this decade. The latest order for another 500 “will provide afurther steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035,” the airline said.
It is learnt IndiGo may place an order for widebody aircraft too — in a first for it — at the Paris air show. When asked about ordering twin aisles, CEO Pieter Elbers said: “Today let us enjoy this order. Ask me about them tomorrow. ” The wide body may be Boeing’s B787 Dreamliners.
The “historic” purchaseagreement was signed by an IndiGo team led by promoter and MD Rahul Bhatia with Airbus brass led by CEO Guillaume Faury. Going by the number of planes, this eclipses Air India’s recent order for 470 aircraft, including 70 twin aisles, worth $70 billion.
Since its inception in 2006, IndiGo has so far ordered a total of 1,330 Airbus aircraft.
Internal troubles
2019/ Co-founders in dispute, hire law firms
May 16, 2019: The Times of India
IndiGo co-founders in dispute, hire law firms
New Delhi:
Differences have cropped up between the two promoters and co-founders of India’s most successful and profitable airline Indigo, sources said on Wednesday. This is latest in the series of negative news emerging from the aviation sector.
The two promoters, Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, have hired legal firms for dispute resolution, sources said.
While IndiGo did not offer comments till the time of going to press, the differences between the two aviation stalwarts are learnt to be over Bhatia's possible apprehension that Gangwal was trying to gain greater control of the airline by bringing his own team. Gangwal, a US citizen and non-executive director, holds nearly 37% stake in the airline. Bhatia has about 38%. Bhatia and Gangwal have hired JSA Law and Khaitan & Co, respectively. The news of the differences between the two follows the turmoil in Jet Airways, which has temporarily shut operations, affecting flyers in one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world.
Trouble started when IndiGo planned to expand overseas
Gangwal lived in the US for a decade from 1984 and then joined Air France as EVP (planning and development). From there he went on to join US Airways Group and US Airways as president and CEO where he remained till November 2001.
In 2003-04, Gangwal and Bhatia — already a hugely successful travel industry player in India — came together to launch IndiGo. The airline had a smooth run as a low-cost carrier emerging as the number one player in terms of market share. Indigo took pride in the fact that its top management team had remained virtually unchanged since the start of operations. But once the Indian skies were conquered and it was time to expand in global markets, the first signs of trouble started.
Gangwal, who has a large network of top notch aviation professionals overseas, started getting expats to IndiGo with an eye on the LCC’s expansion in foreign markets. That phase saw IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh leave last summer. Ghosh’s departure was quickly followed by the exit of IndiGo’s main commercial and network brain, Sanjay Kumar.
Now, IndiGo has several expats at top management positions. This January, IndiGo appointed Ronojoy Dutta as CEO. Dutta is an aviation veteran who was with United for 20 years and was an adviser to US Airways during its restructuring. He was also Air Sahara president for two years.
YEAR WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2017
Security training centre's licence on hold
Manju V, IndiGo security training centre's licence on hold, Feb 6, 2017: The Times of India
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has suspended the licence of IndiGo airline's aviation security training centre (ASTC) after finding rampant malpractice in training and exams the airline conducted for its flight attendants. The security regulator found that for 7-8 months, all IndiGo cabin crew members had been securing 96-98% in the aviation security exams conducted in-house.
The licence of IndiGo's Gurgaon-based ASTC was suspended on Friday after an inspection by BCAS officials in January-end. “They were making a mockery of exams,“ said BCAS chief Kumar Rajesh Chandra. “For now, the airline will have to stop the security training it imparts at its centre till corrective measures are put in place.“
The issue began when, about eight months ago, IndiGo changed the exam format for cabin crew security training from online exams to penand-paper without informing the security regulator. “Our suspicions were aroused when we found that IndiGo cabin crew members consistently scored high,“ said Chandra.
The inspection revealed: the question paper for cabin crew security exam hadn't changed for eight months.Even the sequence of questions in the multiple-choice paper was the same as was that of answer choices. “We found that IndiGo flight attendants were just mugging up the question numbers with the relevant answer choices,“ the official said. An IndiGo spokesperson said, “We are confident of demonstrating sufficient compliance to the satisfaction of the BCAS. We would like to clarify that this discussion only pertains to aviation security training. All other trainings are contin uing, as scheduled, and there has been no change in our operations.“
The training academy is run by IndiGo's parent company InterGlobe Aviation.
Given that the minimum marks required to pass these exams is 80%, a number of candidates would have failed had the airline conducted the exams in a fair manner, said an aviation source. After they are recruited, flight attendants undergo extensive training, which includes a six-day security course. IndiGo has been on a fleet-expansion spree in recent years and so needs a steady supply of pilots and cabin crew each month.
2018
Cancellations hit 1 lakh IndiGo flyers, Jan- May
Cancellations hit 1 lakh IndiGo flyers till May 2018, July 30, 2018: The Times of India
Over 1.08 lakh passengers were affected because of the large-scale flight cancellations by IndiGo, government data has revealed.
During the first five months of the year, up to May, the carrier cancelled 1,824 flights, impacting 1,08,549 passengers, the highest among the domestic carriers. The figures were shared by minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Asked for its response, an IndiGo spokesperson said, “A significant reason for flight cancellations from January to May was grounding of neo planes, delivery delays and bad weather conditions in different parts of the country at different times.”
2025
December: Serious troubles
Dec 5, 2025: The Times of India
From: Dec 5, 2025: The Times of India
Genesis Of The Crisis
For over a decade, pilots of Indian carriers have been pleading for a more humane flight duty time limitations (FDTL) or rostering norms to reduce stress/fatigue and improve flight safety.
In response, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed courts in 2023 that it would roll out new FDTL norms the following year, and that the new norms would address the pilots’ demand.
It was abundantly clear then that to operate even the same number of flights with more recovery time for pilots would require carriers to hire more pilots.
The new norms were rolled out in Jan 2024. They were initially scheduled to be implemented from June 1, 2024, but this deadline was later deferred.
DGCA finally told courts that the rollout would happen in two phases: July 1, 2025, and Nov 1, 2025.
What The Changes Were
Key changes affecting crew availability:
Weekly rest
Earlier | 36 hours of uninterrupted rest in a 168-hour week.
Now | 48 hours of uninterrupted rest per week.
Night landings (1am-5am)
Earlier | No cap on number of night landings.
Now | Capped at two.
Consecutive night duties
Earlier | No restriction.
Now | Crew can’t be rostered for more than two consecutive nights.
Net effect | Each pilot can legally fly less intense schedules, so you need more pilots to run the same network.
Slow On Hiring
IndiGo, with 400+ aircraft and new planes coming in almost every week, was always going to feel the FDTL impact more than any other Indian carrier.
But instead of front-loading pilot hiring, it tried to contain costs and went slow on adding cockpit crew — despite knowing the contours of the new norms since Jan 2024.
This created a structural mismatch:
➤ Flight capacity kept rising.
➤ The airline’s pilot strength lagged behind.
As a result, any disruption was bound to snowball.
Meanwhile…
➤ Winter schedule kicked in from Oct 26.
➤ IndiGo’s weekly domestic flights increased 6% from 14,158 in the summer to 15,014 now.
➤ Among major airlines, this was the biggest jump in domestic flights.
How It Got Through Nov
In Nov, IndiGo essentially went into emergency mode to keep the schedule afloat:
➤ The airline put all available resources on the line — ‘all hands on deck’.
➤ Some pilots voluntarily cancelled their leave. ➤ A new, tighter roster was drawn up to squeeze maximum flying out of the available crew.
Even then, the system was overstretched: 1,232 flights were cancelled in Nov. Of these, 755 cancellations were due to crew shortage. So, Nov’s OTP was already under strain — and this kind of peak scheduling is not sustainable beyond a short period.
Dec Nightmare
By Dec, the temporary fixes stopped working.
➤ IndiGo couldn’t keep operating in ‘crisis mode’ with pilots stretched to the limit.
➤ The underlying mismatch between number of flights and number of pilots finally showed up in full.
Result OTP crashed to below 20% on Dec 3, turning into a full-blown operational meltdown for passengers.
What It’s Trying To Fix
The airline is now scrambling on multiple fronts to stabilise operations while staying within FDTL rules: Crew planning & rostering: Reworking rosters to comply strictly with FDTL while using available pilots more efficiently.
Coordination with air traffic control & airports: Working with air traffic control and airports to manage capacity constraints and reduce cascading delays.
Improving turnaround times: Trying to reduce ground time so aircraft can depart on time even with tight crew availability.
