SOMEONE SUGGESTED THAT we just look at the map and…” Pieter Elbers makes a motion resembling a dart being thrown, and laughs. “That’s not really how we select a new route to fly to,” he says, the grin firmly in place.
Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, Asia’s biggest airline and eighth largest in the world, is in his element after another round of laughing all the way to the bank—four quarters of profits in a row even as many fellow airlines are floundering or staring at bankruptcy. And the ‘going international’ strategy, which he set in motion a year ago, is now in top gear.
It is this choice of destinations that has the aviation world agog, and the subject of the question to Elbers. After starting the predictable India-Gulf routes a few years ago, the airline dialled up the expansion push by many notches this year with flights to, wait for it, Baku (Azerbaijan), Tbilisi (Georgia), Nairobi (Kenya), Jakarta (Indonesia) and more.
“We establish some market info first, looking into general parameters like GDP and foreign investments. Then we looked at whether Indians want to go to these places, how much of a detour is necessary to get there today and what options they have now,” says Elbers in an interaction with THE WEEK.
Third, he adds, is the entrepreneurial approach of taking a risk with a new route, as much as using the weight of IndiGo’s dominance in the domestic market as an advantage. “A Delhi to Baku flight is actually an India to Baku flight, because we connect so many domestic destinations to Delhi,” he says. “I’m encouraged by what I see in some of these new markets. The appetite of the Indian consumer to explore internationally is just about to start. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.”
Denne historien er fra December 10, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 10, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI