IndiGo appoints Pieter Elbers as CEO, replaces Ronojoy Dutta

Mumbai: Budget carrier IndiGo has said Pieter Elbers, who was named as the Chief Executive Officer of the company to replace Ronojoy Dutta, has joined the position from Tuesday.

The airline had announced the appointment of Elbers as its new CEO following Dutta's "decision" to retire on September 30.

"…Petrus Johannes Theodorus Elbers (Pieter Elbers) has joined as Chief Executive Officer of the company with effect from today, September 6," IndiGo said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

The 71-year-old Dutta came to the helm of the airline in January 2019, and guided IndiGo through the turbulent COVID-19 period.

Prior to coming on board the country's largest airline by domestic market share, Elbers served as the president and chief executive officer of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and also as a member of the executive committee of the Air France – KLM Group.

He is the fourth CEO of IndiGo since its launch. Bruce Ashby was the first CEO of IndiGO from 2005 to 2008, who also practically launched the airline in August 2006.

Following Ashby's decision to return to the US in late 2008, IndiGo brought in its then director Aditya Ghosh as the new CEO and later elevated him to the position of president at the airline.

After serving the budget carrier for a decade Ghosh quit the company in 2018.

While IndiGo appointed Dutta as the CEO after nine months of Ghosh's departure from the company, in the interim period, IndiGo co-founder and promoter Rahul Bhatia reportedly served as its interim CEO.