Domestic airline IndiGo has said that Petrus Johannes Theodorus Elbers (Pieter Elbers) has joined as its chief executive officer with effect from September 6, 2022. He joined the company around three weeks before he was supposed to join. IndiGo had earlier said that Elbers will join the company on or before 01 October 2022.
Elbers succeeds Ronojoy Dutta (71), who has decided to retire on 30 September 2022, after steering IndiGo through the turbulent Covid period.
The shares of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of the country's largest airline IndiGo, opened gap-up today, but soon fell to the day's low at ₹2,015, largely in line with the selloff in the broader market. The BSE benchmark Sensex is down by 0.45%, while Nifty 50 is down by 0.42%. At 10.13 AM, the stock was trading at ₹2,018.45, down 3.30 or 0.16%.
Elbers (52) had served as the president and chief executive officer of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines since 2014. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Air France – KLM Group.
Born in Schiedam, The Netherlands, Elbers received his bachelor’s degree in logistics management and a master's degree in business economics. He started his career at KLM in 1992 at their Schiphol hub and over time, held several managerial positions in both The Netherlands and overseas in Japan, Greece and Italy. After he returned to The Netherlands, he was appointed as the senior vice president of Network & Alliances, before he was promoted in 2011 as the chief operating officer.
On his appointment as the CEO, Elbers had earlier said he was delighted to become a part of the next stage of IndiGo’s incredible journey, and that what IndiGo’s employees and leadership have built over 16 years is "truly impressive".
As per Rahul Bhatia, managing director of IndiGo, India promises to be the last bastion of ginormous growth globally and given Elbers’ deep understanding of the business, IndiGo will play a pivotal role in this growth opportunity.
With a largest market share of 56.3% in the country, IndiGo operates a fleet of 275 aircraft and 1,600 daily flights connecting 75 domestic and 25 global destinations.
Showing a steady rise from the gloomy Covid period, IndiGo narrowed its April-June quarter net loss to ₹1,064 crore as compared to ₹3,174.2 crore net loss in the same quarter last year. Its revenue was the highest ever in Q1 FY23 at ₹12,855.3 crore, up 328% from ₹3,007 crore in the year-ago period. IndiGo's total income, including revenue and other income, was ₹13,019 crore for Q1, a rise of 370% YoY. Its passenger ticket revenue also rose 399.1% to ₹11,466 crore.
The airline on Monday added six new flights to bolster connectivity between India and the Middle East. These flights will operate between Hyderabad and Riyadh, along with additional frequencies on Hyderabad-Doha and Mangalore-Dubai routes.
