Man on a mission: Pieter Elbers on turning IndiGo into a world-class airline

India is perhaps the greatest growth story in commercial aviation at the moment.   

Over the past two years, India’s dominant carriers, IndiGo and Air India, have stunned the industry with unprecedented aircraft orders, each running into the hundreds.  

This massive fleet buildup reflects the fact that, despite years of double-digit growth, Indian airlines may still only have scratched the surface of a huge untapped market. Within the next decade, it could see hundreds of millions of Indian citizens experience air travel for the first time. 

And one of those leading the charge is Pieter Elbers, the Dutch aviation veteran who took the reins at IndiGo in 2022.  

After nearly three decades at KLM, where he climbed the ranks to become President and CEO, Elbers left for India with a clear mission: to position IndiGo among the world’s leading carriers, while contributing to India’s emergence as one of the epicenters of global aviation. 

In the three years of his tenure so far, Elbers has not only overseen IndiGo’s relentless expansion in its domestic market but has also outlined, and started executing, a much more ambitious plan to turn IndiGo into a major international player, too. 

Sure enough, IndiGo hosted the 81st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Delhi, June 1-3, 2025.  

This event gathered hundreds of airline leaders from around the world. It was also attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reiterated the strategic importance his government attributes to the continued growth of the Indian commercial aviation industry. 

IATA’s AGM also provided AeroTime with an unmissable opportunity to meet face to face with Pieter Elbers and ask him about some of the most current matters relating to IndiGo’s expansion. 

Unsurprisingly, the conversation started with the topic of fleet growth and aircraft orders. In fact, just two days before this interview took place, IndiGo kicked off IATA’s AGM with the announcement that it was doubling up a pre-existing A350 order. 

Having already ordered 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft back in May 2024, Elbers announced during one of the opening sessions at the IATA AGM conference that IndiGo was ordering an additional 30 of the type.  

Pieter Elbers at the 2025 IATA AGM. Picture: Miquel Ros / AeroTimeThis future 60-strong widebody fleet, together with the soon-to-arrive long range Airbus A321XLR aircraft, is a clear declaration of intent when it comes to the international markets. 

“The Indian domestic market has grown a lot, and I still think there’s a lot of opportunity to grow,” Elbers said. “But perhaps it is [the] international [market] – given the huge Indian diaspora, given the fact that the Indian aspirational traveler would like to go abroad, given the fact that India is being seen by more and more companies and countries as a relevant trade partner – which makes us very confident that the international market growth will continue to be there. When I joined the company in 2022, we highlighted internationalization as one of the cornerstones. I pretty much see it as an extension of what was done before, but perhaps now more accelerated.”  

Elbers explained how he sees IndiGo’s international expansion as covering a number of concentric ‘rings’ around India.  

“The first group of international routes is clearly to the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That, I would say, is a natural extension of our network, having an expansion of that. The second group was centered very much around Southeast Asia, clearly a new opportunity for Indigo to build on.” 

Elbers pointed out that Indigo was already present in these two areas, but has nevertheless been boosting its footprint there by adding capacity as well as new routes to places, such as Ras Al Khaimah (RKT) and Fujairah (FJR) in the UAE and Krabi (KBV) in Thailand. 

“The third area, which is totally new for us, and we started two years back, is made up of Central Asia, Indonesia and Africa. And if I were to put India at the center and take a kind of ring around it, that’s our next natural scope of expansion,” he continued. 

Elbers referred to the fact IndiGo had already been using its current narrow body fleet to reach destinations such as Baku (GYD) and Tbilisi (TBS) in the Caucasus, Almaty (ALA) and Tashkent (TAS) in Central Asia, Nairobi (NBO) in East Africa and Denpasar (DPS) in Bali, Indonesia.  

“That [region] still has opportunities, but for that, we need the [Airbus A321] XLR, to connect it with multiple cities in India. For example, to fly from Bangalore to Bali, from Delhi to Bali and so on, we need the XLR. So that’s going to be its first deployment by the end of this year. That is the next natural step,” Elbers said, referencing the upcoming arrival in the second half of 2025 of the new long range A321XLR aircraft, of which IndiGo has 69 on order.  

Omid Behzadpour / ShutterstockNext, Elbers detailed his plans for the longer-range destinations: 

“A totally new area is whatever is there outside that third circle: parts of Europe, parts of Asia, more in Africa… There are in fact going to be two types of fleets operating these. One is the XLR and the other one, clearly, is what we’ve ordered the A350s for.”  

IndiGo is not waiting for the A350s before it starts tapping into new markets in Europe and elsewhere, though.  

Earlier in 2025, the Indian carrier announced a damp-lease agreement with Norway-based Norse Atlantic Airways in order to operate some B787-9 aircraft on routes to Western Europe. 

“Today we have one [B787]. We have signed up for another three. So, a total of four before the end of this year, and we’ve got two more coming in the first quarter of next year. So, the total arrangement is six aircraft: one now, three more before the end of the year and two more early next year.” 

Elbers also shared his vision for the European market: 

“Looking to Europe, you’ll see the typical widebody operations. First with the bridging B787s, and in the future, with the A350s, to places like London (LHR and LGW) and Manchester (MAN), which are quite far. Then, Athens and other places in the southern part of Europe are much more realistic to operate with the XLRs. The eight-to-nine hour [of flight time] range is probably a tipping point at which you move from an XLR to a widebody – again, very generically.” 

IndiGo plans to operate the A321XLRs with 195 seats – 12 in business class, and 183 in economy. In this regard, Elbers confirmed that the A321XLRs are going to be fitted with IndiGo’s new ‘Stretch’ business class, although with a little more space than the one it currently deploys on trunk domestic routes within India. The final cabin configuration of IndiGo’s A350s has yet to be revealed. 

The airline’s entry into the European market – where it currently has just a small toehold through its (now questioned) partnership with Turkish Airlines – will be strengthened by a broad-encompassing alliance with SkyTeam carriers: 

“We have had a collaboration with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic for the past three years. They fly from Paris, Amsterdam and London into India, connecting to our domestic network. We are now flying to Europe, starting in July into Amsterdam and Manchester, and we are connecting into them.” 

Is IndiGo still a low-cost carrier? 

While it started implementing a rather pure low-cost carrier playbook, IndiGo’s value proposition has been evolving over time. It is not just the fleet diversification, its extensive network of partnerships with other airlines and its entry into the long-haul market. In 2024 IndiGo launched also a business class product, which it calls ‘Stretch’, starting with some of its trunk routes in India. 

“I don’t think we are a classic low-cost airline. We have a low-cost basis, but we’re not a classic low-cost airline. We’re not Ryanair. We want to maintain our cost leadership. We want to remain very cost competitive,” Elbers clarified. 

IndiGo plans to keep on adding some of the service elements that are typically associated with the full-service carriers: 

“We have introduced our ‘Stretch’ business class on domestic flights, we have a loyalty program which has been resonating very well in the market. And the fact that we have also announced we will also have our business class for Dubai, Singapore, Phuket and Bangkok is underlining that, I would say.” 

However, Elbers added a nuance: IndiGo won’t be deploying the Stretch product throughout its entire network. Instead, it will keep it limited to selective routes. 

“Contrary to some other carriers, we put products on routes where we feel it makes sense and not everything everywhere per se,” he added. 

IndiGo Stretch IndiGo also differs from most European and US low-cost carriers in that it facilitates connecting traffic.  

“We have a significant percentage of connecting passengers. We’re not sharing precise numbers, but it is higher than European LCCs and lower than European network carriers like KLM or Air France. We facilitate it, since we connect major metro areas to lots of smaller cities. At places like Hyderabad, we have a significant percentage of connecting passengers.”  

On India’s airports and hubs 

To support all of this growth, India has been investing a great deal in airports over recent years and, as its Prime Minister confirmed at the 81st IATA AGM, there are plans to continue doing so for years to come. 

Elbers takes pride in IndiGo’s very comprehensive geographical reach. As of June 2025, IndiGo was operating at 91 airports in India, meaning that 90% of the Indian population lives within 100 kilometers of an IndiGo-served airport.  

“When it comes to the biggest capacity shortage, that was in Delhi and Mumbai and clearly the two new airports [Navi Mumbai Airport (NMI) and Noida International Airport (DXN), both of which are expected to enter service in the second half of 2025 – Ed. Note] are really helping us lift that off.” 

Elbers reiterated that India’s sheer size makes a multi-hub approach a more reasonable option. 

“Unlike, for example, Dubai (DXB), we have multiple hubs. From that angle I would like to compare our network growth more to the US majors, which have different strongholds throughout the country. Looking to the geographical size and scope and potential of India, it makes a lot of sense to operate from different places.”  

 He added: “We have Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad as our four largest points of operation. Kolkata could be added to that as number five. And that is, of course, coinciding with the fact that these are the metros of the country, where a lot of growth takes place. It’s actually Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, in that sort of line, which is also a reflection of the GDP of these cities.” 

On navigating a complex geopolitical environment 

One of the unavoidable topics in our conversation with Elbers was the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, which led to airspace closures. Elbers wouldn’t quantify the exact financial impact of the cancellations and re-routings that ensued, but he did comment on the general impact of this situation: 

“I won’t be able to put a number to it, but what I am able to share with you is that we have temporarily suspended two routes, Tashkent and Almaty, because they would be circumflying Pakistan airspace and that would just exceed what the capabilities are, given the geographical range. We also plan to start flights from Mumbai into that region. It may take a bit of time, but then we will have that reinstated. But these are two destinations out of a total of 41 [international destinations], which puts it into perspective,” he said. 

A potentially more serious issue is the re-routing of many westward international flights, but here again, Elbers didn’t appear too concerned:  

“The longer flying time is affecting another set of destinations, from Delhi to the UAE and the Middle East. Flight times are a bit longer, but for us that is all manageable in terms of distance. Istanbul, of course, it’s also longer, but that’s flying with the 777s. There’s additional cost, but in terms of payload and range we can still do that.”  

He added: “This has, of course, an impact on us, but we have, by now, worked our way around. We have found a solution. From an airline perspective, it would have been better if this [situation] was not there, but it doesn’t choke our operation. We have 2,300 daily flights and I think there’s something like 30 flights being affected. I think it’s important to realize that Indigo has grown so big and has such a huge diversity of network that, if there are issues in parts of the network, we have the opportunity to either reallocate capacity or re-emphasize other parts of the network.” 

Another collateral victim of the military escalation has been IndiGo’s long-standing close partnership with Turkish Airlines.   

Since the Turkish government sided with Pakistan during the border crisis, the Indian authorities have moved to cut ties with Turkey. This has led to IndiGo’s codeshare agreement being put into question on national security grounds. IndiGo was also damp-leasing some of Turkish Airlines B777 aircraft, repainted in IndiGo’s livery, to operate this route. 

“The permits [to operate the Turkish B777s] have been extended for another three months, and by then, we will work on alternatives for that time frame.” Elbers explained.  

Another source of geopolitical uncertainty is the ongoing and constantly evolving row about US trade tariffs and their potential effects – not just on supply chains, but also on the broader international air travel demand. Elbers appeared unfazed by this, too: 

“One, I think the economy of India has a lot of domestic growth, demand and consumption, and that’s driving the GDP. Two, there seems to be some progress in the in the talks between the US and India. I don’t have a clear view on what’s the latest, but clearly, some of that progress is going on. And I guess with the growth of India, not just as a services hub, but also as a manufacturing hub, it should find its place. It’s a bit disturbing, but I don’t think it materially influences our progress.” 

Can we expect more aircraft orders in the near future?  

“We keep all options open,” was Elbers’ response to the above question, although he quickly added, “We have the world’s largest order book, 800 aircraft. Two years back we had 300 planes on order. With 50 planes a year, that would have been a six-year time horizon. What we have done now, with the 500-strong order, is basically extend that timeframe for another 6,7, 8 years, which takes us to a total [time] horizon well into the next decade.” 

Some of the new aircraft will replace older airframes, but IndiGo is gearing up to double in size within the next five years. 

“A way to look at it is that, today, we have in the range of 400-ish aircraft. We have said we are going to double [in traffic] by the end of this decade, by 2030, and we will have around 600 planes in operation by then. So, you can do the math yourself. That means I expect that we’re going to double our passenger numbers from roughly 100 million to 200 million. I could be off by 20 million, but that’s the sort of projection we’re making. We haven’t done the exact same math for 2035 yet. I think it’s important for us to keep some flexibility and room to maneuver.” 

Elbers also commented on the choice of the -900 version of the A350, for now ruling out the larger A350-1000. 

“I don’t think I should rule out anything – you never know – but we have decided to move to the –900. The [order] double-up which we have just announced, it’s again for the –900. For now, that’s the plane we will be looking at.” 

He also commented on IndiGo’s regional fleet, praising its role, while appearing noncommittal on the possibility of additional future orders. 

“We have some 46-47 turboprops in operation.  It has helped us a lot in places like Hyderabad, where we have a very significant number of ATR operations. The ATRs are typically either feeding the larger metros, doing some small point-to-point routes, or serving the very remote areas with smaller airports which cannot handle jets. That number has actually grown quite significantly.” 

The cargo business is also expected to make a contribution, particularly on the international front, Elbers said. 

“We have three narrow-body freighters. We carry a lot of cargo in the belly [of our aircraft]. But we’re also preparing for when the A350 comes, because the A350 has a lot of cargo capacity, and all the steps we’re taking today are actually preparing for that timeframe.” 

And how is IndiGo funding its massive aircraft orders? Elbers also commented on this: 

“Traditionally, IndiGo has had a sale and leaseback model that was at the very foundation of the company. Recently, we have started to diversify some of our financing, some of our arrangements. Under the vision of the Indian government, financial leases are increasingly being done through the GIFT City [Gujarat International Finance Tec-City – Ed. Note] in Ahmedabad, a special zone which is being created to also start working on that.” 

On embracing India 

Pieter Elbers at the 2025 IATA AGM. Picture: Miquel Ros / AeroTimeThe conversation ended on a rather more personal note, as Elbers, who often wears Indian-style clothing, reflected on his three years in the country: 

“I moved to India three years ago. Before that I had the privilege of having a wonderful career at KLM, and I could not be more grateful and pleased with that. I had also the opportunity to live in Greece, Italy and Japan and that was wonderful… But by then I was 52 and I was approached for this role…It’s a very Indian company, and I wanted to be part of this team, this society. I believe that if, at the end of the day, you open your mind and your heart for that, it gets returned, and India has been very gracious to me in returning that hospitality.”  

He added: “Sometimes, if you’re engaged and you connect, you get so much energy in return! India is a country full of contrast and diversity. If you embrace that…life is also too short to make it into a professional journey only. I wanted [India] to be part of my life, not to make this only a professional journey, because this is not just for the short term – like, ‘let’s get a few aircraft and fly a few routes’. We’re on a mission to make India into a global aviation hub, and to have Indigo as part of that journey.”  

“I don’t regret a single step I’ve taken along that line and wherever I’ve gone in the country, people are nice and friendly and open minded,” Elbers concluded. “I have not felt excluded at any point in time. I decided to embrace it and that’s been returned with a wonderful warm smile and an opening of hearts. It has been very rewarding for me.”  The post Man on a mission: Pieter Elbers on turning IndiGo into a world-class airline appeared first on AeroTime.

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