Aditya Ghosh is smart enough not to burn bridges. IndiGo’s president who resigned last week, isn’t ready to talk about its wrong decisions, primarily the sudden interest to buy loss-making national carrier Air India, and he would rather gloss over its last problematic year that was a nightmare for its brand and image, with frequent complaints against its staff, a brawl at the airport and a parliamentary committee report that was harshly critical of its services.Above all, Ghosh won’t delve into what’s really clear now: that there is a clear shift of power at the airline. New executives — mostly expatriates — are taking over the decision-making, bringing about a cultural change and leaving little for the incumbent management. Ghosh says this was the right time to leave the airline but won’t get into specifics. He says he has “myriad interests”, “an open mind” and is readying himself for “Aditya Ghosh 2.0”Edited excerpts from an interview:1) Why now? IndiGo seems poised for its next phase of expansion. Why isn’t Aditya Ghosh on board IndiGo 2.0?As I wrote to my colleagues, I have been in this current role for ten years now. This has been a relentless and non-stop effort. It was not a marathon but a sprint. I was having a lot of fun in creating something that this country had never seen before. At the same time, I had been itching to do something new. I had been talking to the Founders, Rahul (Bhatia) and Rakesh (Gangwal) for a while. I have a great relationship with them. We have worked closely for nearly 16 years. So it took me a while to convince them that I am serious about handing over the reins and plan on doing something different. Having built an industry leading product and a team that is truly world class, I felt that if there is ever a time to step back and think about what next, this is as good a time as any.With a solid track record, robust processes in place, an experienced leadership team and an army of passionate hard-working employees, IndiGo is in safe hands. Absolutely, IndiGo is at the cusp of its next phase of growth and I do take pride in having been deeply involved in creating a solid foundation for the future.So to use your expression, I am getting ready for Aditya Ghosh 2.0.

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2) But the last year has been different and difficult too. Last year marked a tremendous amount of negative publicity and PR, primarily in the form of some incidents with passengers and an uncomplimentary report from a parliamentary committee. Would you call last year your most challenging phase in the airline? No. Every day and every year threw up its own unique challenges. Sometimes it could be sky rocketing fuel prices; or downturn in the economy; or rising airport charges; or shortage of human resources; or infrastructure challenges; or rising expectations from customers and so on and so forth. It is my job as the leader and the role of the leadership team to mitigate those challenges; learn from them and come out stronger, which we did each time over the past decade.

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3) Last year was when IndiGo broke character, so to speak. It veered away from its single fleet type strategy, got into regional operations, spoke of international long haul plans, charted a blueprint for wide-bodied aircraft orders and above all showed a surprising interest in buying Air India. 2016 and 2017 were also when Indigo, which has always trusted and retained its old guard, planned to make several new appointments in the management team. How and why have priorities at the airline changed?I disagree. On the surface, it may seem like that. But actually, if you study it closely, the organisation has been evolving constantly over the past twelve years. It’s always done what’s in the best interest of the organisation. It’s constantly transforming itself to get better. As we often say, our competition is who we were yesterday!4) Have you ever had any reservations about these decisions? For instance, how do you look back at IndiGo’s sudden interest in Air India? Wasn’t that a mistake?I will not comment on any specific initiative. But I can tell you this much that once a decision is made by the Board after adequate deliberation, it is a team decision and each one of us believe in putting in our best effort.5) To repeat a part of my previous question, IndiGo has seen several appointments since 2016–expatriates with experience of handling global carriers, primarily United Airlines. Has there been a cultural shift in IndiGo? What is the shift? Do you think it was necessary?As I said before, it is a process of evolution. We need to put together strong building blocks for the future. As we have been saying for a while, we have to build a world class team that draws talent from all over the world. That would mean attracting the best, irrespective of which passport they carry. 6) Going forward, what do you think will be the key challenges for IndiGo?It’s not fair for me to comment on that. All I know is that, today, IndiGo is the largest and most profitable airline in the fastest growing aviation market in the world with an absolutely stellar track record backed by experienced founders and supported by a solid team.7) What next? There have been talks of your planned business venture. Will it be in the aviation space? Or would it be crafted out of your myriad interests in fitness, music, and food or travelling?Yes, I do have myriad interests and I have an open mind.