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IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation announced on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, that Pieter Elbers had resigned as chief executive officer with immediate effect, ending a turbulent tenure that culminated in one of the worst operational crises in Indian aviation history.
The Board of Directors accepted the resignation at a meeting held between 17:30 and 17:45 IST. Rahul Bhatia, managing director of InterGlobe Aviation, will assume control of the airline’s day to day affairs on an interim basis while the company searches for a permanent successor.
4,500 Flights Cancelled in Ten Days
The resignation follows directly from a scheduling meltdown in December 2025 that forced IndiGo to cancel approximately 4,500 flights over ten days, disrupting travel for more than 300,000 passengers.
The crisis was triggered by IndiGo’s failure to adapt its crew rosters to new Flight Duty Time Limitation rules introduced by India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The rules, which tightened caps on pilot duty hours, night landings, and weekly rest requirements, had been signalled well in advance. Other Indian carriers absorbed the transition without comparable disruption.
Between December 3 and 5 alone, IndiGo cancelled more than 2,500 flights and delayed nearly 1,900 others. Industry observers and the pilot federation pointed to years of lean staffing relative to fleet growth as the structural cause. Between 2022 and 2024, IndiGo added 1,247 pilots for 91 new aircraft, compared to 1,420 pilots added by Air India for just 61 aircraft over the same period.
Regulator Puts Blame on Elbers Personally
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation responded with unusual directness. It issued a show cause notice to Elbers personally on December 7, 2025, giving him 24 hours to explain why regulatory action should not be taken against him. The regulator concluded he had failed in his duty and had not intervened in time to prevent the collapse.
The authority imposed a record fine of 22.20 crore rupees on IndiGo and temporarily suspended the new duty time rules until February 10, 2026, as a stabilisation measure. In a further exceptional step, the regulator permitted IndiGo to temporarily redeploy 12 of its own flight operations inspectors, who were seconded to the authority, back to the airline to support crew scheduling. IndiGo was also ordered to cut its schedule by ten percent and clear all outstanding passenger refunds.
A Veteran Aviation Executive Exits
Elbers, a Dutch national, led KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from 2014 to 2022, a period widely regarded as commercially and operationally successful for the Dutch carrier. He departed KLM after sustained tensions with Ben Smith, chief executive of parent group Air France-KLM, over the degree of autonomy granted to KLM. He was succeeded at KLM by Marjan Rintel.
His move to IndiGo in late 2022 was seen at the time as a bold appointment, bringing a seasoned European network airline executive into one of the world’s fastest growing low cost markets. IndiGo held more than 64 percent of India’s domestic aviation market as of late 2025 and carried 124 million passengers during the year, operating more than 2,200 daily flights across 95 domestic and 40 international destinations.
Profit Falls 77 Percent as Crisis Takes Financial Toll
The operational disruption compounded existing financial pressure. IndiGo reported a 77.55 percent year on year decline in consolidated net profit for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 to 2026, with profit falling to 549.8 crore rupees from 2,448.8 crore rupees in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew by 6.2 percent over the same period, suggesting the profit drop stemmed primarily from elevated costs and compensation outlays tied to the cancellations.
In his resignation letter to the board, Elbers cited personal reasons and asked that his notice period be waived. He described his time at IndiGo as an honour and privilege and offered to remain available to support the leadership transition. Board Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said Bhatia’s return would serve to strengthen the company. The airline stated it expects to announce a new leader in short order.
