IndiGo lands IATA chief Willie Walsh as new CEO

AFP | Paris

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IndiGo said yesterday it was appointing Willie Walsh as its new chief executive as India's leading airline sought to recover from an embarrassing spate of cancellations that threw the country's airports into turmoil Walsh currently leads the civil aviation industry's leading trade association, the IATA.

But he also has two decades of experience leading airlines, including a decade at Internationa l A i r l i n e s Group (IAG), the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

Walsh's "experience in managing large scale airline operations and navigating complex market dynamics make him ideally suited to strengthen and lead IndiGo for continued growth in an ever-evolving and competitive international aviation environment," IndiGo's board chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said in a statement.

IndiGo's previous chief executive, Pieter Elbers, stepped down on March 10, months after mass flight cancellations by the carrier threw airports across India into disarray.

In January, India's civil aviation regulator imposed a fine of $2.45 million on IndiGo for poor roster planning that led to largescale cancellations in December. The operational meltdown came even though IndiGo had two years to prepare.