Indigo flight cancellations: The IndiGo crisis is deepening with each passing day, with the airline citing technical glitches and new FDTL norms as the reasons. The company has assured the Centre that the issues causing cancellations will be resolved by Monday. Meanwhile, people have begun searching for information about the owner of IndiGo and the largest shareholder of InterGlobe Aviation.
Who is Rahul Bhatia?
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the parent company of IndiGo, was co-founded by Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia. Bhatia is the Group Managing Director of InterGlobe Aviation. The company was established in 1989, and the company’s core business is air transport management. It had emerged as India’s largest carrier by market share as well. Rakesh Gangwal holds around 13.5% in the company.
According to the InterGlobe website, Rahul Bhatia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Under Bhatia’s leadership, IndiGo has expanded into different businesses. These include hospitality, logistics, technology, airline management, pilot training, and aircraft maintenance engineering.
Rahul Bhatia’s net worth
According to Forbes, Rahul Bhatia’s net worth stands at $8.1 billion. Bhatia ranks 420th among the billionaires in the world as per the Forbes Rich List. He is also the promoter of InterGlobe Aviation. According to BSE promoter stakeholding, he directly owns a 0.01% stake or 40,000 shares in the airline giant.
Who is Rakesh Gangwal?
Another co-founder, Rakesh Gangwal, stepped down from the board of directors of the company in 2022 and has been selling his stake in the airline ever since. The BSE data also showed that Rakesh Gangwal currently owns a 4.53% stake or 1,75,30,493 shares in InterGlobe Aviation.
How Many Flights IndiGo Operate?
IndiGo currently operates a large fleet: as per the recent data, the airline’s fleet size stands at 434 aircraft, and it operates 2,300 flights daily. This makes IndiGo one of the largest carriers in India’s aviation sector.
IndiGo crisis
More than 1000 IndiGo flights have been delayed or cancelled as the airline enters its fourth day of problems caused by the new crew duty rules (FDTL). The airline said cancellations will continue for the next 2–3 days to stabilise the schedule and hopes to return to normal operations by 10 February 2026.
IndiGo told the DGCA that, apart from the new FDTL rules, small technical issues, winter-related schedule changes, and heavy congestion in the aviation system also caused the disruption.
