Indigo Airlines is constantly surrounded by difficulties these days. In the last seven days, more than 1800 flights of the company have been cancelled, due to which thousands of passengers have to face a lot of trouble. In view of this chaos, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sent a notice to IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers. DGCA has asked him why flights were canceled on such a large scale and why correct information was not given to the passengers.

Peter Albers has been the CEO of IndiGo since September 2022 and has 33 years of experience in the aviation sector. He was born on 11 May 1970 in Scheedam city of Netherlands. He did his early studies from De Singel-Primo Sheedam School in his city. His understanding of engineering and business acumen gave him a strong identity in the aviation sector. He got huge experience while working in KLM, which is counted among the top airlines of the world, due to which IndiGo made him the CEO.

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How much salary?

According to reports, he received around Rs 11.9 crore after leaving KLM. After joining IndiGo, he got 67,150 performance stock units in 2023, worth approximately Rs 12.52 crore. His annual salary in the company is around Rs 5 crore. Including salary, bonus and PSUs, his total earnings in IndiGo are around Rs 17 crore annually. According to media reports, the total net worth of Peter Albers is said to be around 5 million dollars i.e. around Rs 45 crore.

Albers started his career on January 1, 1992 with KLM Airlines, where he worked as an aircraft loading supervisor. Over the next few years, he advanced rapidly and was appointed as General Manager in Japan, Greece and Italy. In 2014, he became the President and CEO of KLM. While working at KLM, he received a compensation of about 1.4 million euros every year.

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What did the ministry say?

On behalf of the Aviation Ministry, it has been said that it is necessary to cut some routes of IndiGo so that the operations of the airline can be stabilized and the situation of flight cancellations can be reduced. For this reason, orders have been given to reduce 10% routes. Following the instructions, Indigo will continue to cover all its earlier destinations. Also, the airline has been asked to follow all the rules of the ministry without any relaxation, which includes fixing fares and steps related to passenger convenience.

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The most shocking revelation has been the historical chaos created in the operation of IndiGo. IndiGo canceled thousands of flight tickets in November-December. The company had earlier sold tickets for these dates on a large scale through its schemes like Grand Runaway Fest, Getaway Sale and Black Friday Sale.

New FDTL rules were to come into effect from November 1, under which the working hours of pilots were to be reduced. Because of this the need for crew was going to increase. This information was received by the airline company months ago, but IndiGo neither increased the crew, nor adjusted the schedule, nor controlled the booking on these dates. On the contrary, the airline increased the bookings by selling tickets for these months at huge discounts.

Indigo’s entire network collapses due to crew shortage
As soon as the new rules were implemented, Indigo’s entire network collapsed due to shortage of crew. Flights started getting canceled suddenly. The passengers’ luggage was lost. Rostering broke down and there was chaos at the airports. Indigo is now giving clarifications about network reboot and operational stability, but the question remains, when the date of FDTL rules was fixed and the rules were already announced, then why did Indigo put lakhs of passengers in trouble by selling tickets on the same dates?

IndiGo’s calendar expose
The biggest irony of IndiGo’s operational crisis is that the tickets for the months of November-December for which the airline later canceled thousands of flights, were sold by the company in the first sale, and that too in several phases. For example, tickets for 15-18 August 2025 were sold under the Independence Day Sale scheme.

IndiGo kept the journey duration

IndiGo is accused of selling a lot of tickets for the months of 2025–26, due to which its flight system got badly disrupted due to the pressure of FDTL rules. From August 2025 itself, the airline had launched tickets for the travel period of November and December in the market. Grand Runaway Fest in September 2025 and Getaway Sale in early November. In both, seats from January to March 2026 were sold at huge discounts. After this, in the Black Friday Sale of the last week of November, a large part of the period from January to June 2026 was sold in advance booking.

That is, at the time when Indigo should have adjusted the schedule by anticipating crew shortage, rostering change and operational pressure due to the new FDTL rules, at the same time the company was taking advantage of the heavy booking by selling tickets for these months. This case has become a big example of not only operational failure but also failure of planning and haste in sale.

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IndiGo Crisis: IndiGo is facing one of the biggest operational breakdowns in its history. It is being called Indigo Crisis Unit on a large scale. More than 2000 flights have been canceled in just four days. For this reason, passengers all over India are facing uncertainty and delays. In the meantime, let us know how many types of aircraft Indigo has and which one is the most expensive.

indigo fleet

At present IndiGo operates 6 different categories of aircraft. With this, Indigo has more than 400 aircraft. IndiGo has Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo, ATR 72-600, Boeing 777-300 ER, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Airbus A321-P2F.

Which is the most expensive plane?

The most expensive aircraft currently used by IndiGo is the Boeing 777-300 ER. Its list price is approximately $375.5 million. These wide body aircraft are mostly used on long distance routes and their operating costs are much higher than narrow body models. Right after this is the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Its list price is approximately $292.5 million. However, let us tell you that Indigo usually operates leased aircraft. Because of this the initial cost reduces considerably. The base prices of these jets show how expensive wide body operations really are.

More expensive aircraft are coming in 2027

IndiGo has already placed orders for the Airbus A350-900. These can join the fleet from 2027. With a list price of more than $300 million per aircraft, the A350 will become the most expensive aircraft IndiGo has ever owned.

But in the meantime, it is important to understand that airlines rarely pay the list price. Discounts of 40% to 60% are often available on large purchase orders. This means that the actual transaction price is almost halved.

Why are wide body aircraft so expensive

Wide body aircraft like the 777 and 787 come with advanced avionics, long-range fuel systems, larger engines and high-end cabin configurations. These consume more fuel and require more maintenance. Along with this, the cost of crew is also high. Whereas narrow body aircraft like A320neo remain cheaper for domestic routes. However, a wide body is necessary for international expansion.

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