The genesis of the arbitration lies in a bitter public battle that began in July when Rakesh Gangwal wrote to capital market regulator Sebi alleging lack of corporate governance in the company. He alleged that Rahul Bhatia, who holds controlling power of the company, had used it to execute questionable related-party transactions.
On February 19, India's largest private low-fare airline IndiGo announced the resignation of one of the two founders, Rakesh Gangwal, from the airline's board and his intentions of offloading his stake in the airline over the next five years. The announcement came on a Friday, giving the stock markets the weekend to absorb the news but the markets registered a tepid response on Monday's opening. In contrast, in July 2019, when the fight between the two founders and erstwhile friends first became public, the markets reacted savagely. The IndiGo scrip at the time fell 19 per cent, wiping out millions of rupees of shareholder wealth before bouncing back. For readers who may be hazy on the details of the dispute, here is the context.
Based on the Skytrax ranking for 2018, IndiGo is number two among the best low-cost carriers in Asia, behind rival AirAsia.
Protocols for the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC), convened in the event of a bomb threat call to an aircraft or airport, have been tweaked to better tackle the spate of the ongoing 'random' Internet-based threats being made to various Indian airlines, official sources said Tuesday.
Of the 48 flights, which are not being operated as part of the curtailed schedule, 42 are of IndiGo and six of GoAir.
In a December 2012 interview, Ratan Tata, then preparing to step down as chairman of Tata Sons, expressed doubts about the Tata group re-entering the aviation sector, calling it a space plagued by "destructive competition". But beneath that frustration lay nearly two decades of failed attempts to conquer the Indian skies. In 1994, Tata, along with Singapore Airlines, had plans to launch a joint venture (JV) airline in India.
Chadha also said there is a possibility that fog in Delhi and a recent air show in Mumbai may have added to the troubles of the airline.
It is for the first time in the history of IndiGo that we have undertaken such a painful measure, CEO Ronojoy Dutta said.
Flights from Delhi or Bengaluru, while they may still fly over Iran, depending on the route, have alternative paths that may take them through Central Asia or northern routes.
Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo's Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday.
According to the annual report, Ronojoy Dutta's remuneration package includes a gross annual salary of $1.27 million, which would be payable in rupees. Also, he is entitled for a commitment bonus payout. In FY20, he received a remuneration of Rs 11.4 crore in his role as CEO and whole-time director.
Lessor market sources said with the fuel prices remaining high, IndiGo would get better rates for the fuel-efficient A320neos.
While IndiGo had 11.8 per cent of all the international seats to and fro India in the last week of August, Air India's seat share was 11.4 per cent. Emirates came third with 8.1 per cent, and rest of the airlines constituted 68 per cent of the seat share.
IndiGo's co-founder and interim CEO Rahul Bhatia said profitability was significantly impacted by costs pressure from the increases in fuel price and the depreciation of rupee as well as competitive fare environment.
IndiGo has been facing a probe by Sebi ever since a public spat came to light between two founders of the airline, including over certain related party transactions involving one of the warring promoters.
'IndiGo 2018 is a harsh, ultra-lean, mean, zero asset, fighting machine with aspirations of taking on the global long-haul low-cost market.'
The introduction of these new flights would help IndiGo cross 650 flights mark as the it would offer a total of 671 flights per day connecting 39 destinations.
In June IndiGo had implemented a mandatory leave without pay program for 1.5 days to 5 days. Subsequently, in July, IndiGo announced 5.5 additional days of LWP for its pilots, taking the effective number of LWP to 10 days. As cost cutting measure, the airline had also let go of 10 per cent of its employees and implemented a pay cut across the board.
IndiGo's president and director Aditya Ghosh apologised for the incident and said stern action was taken against an airline staff for manhandling the passenger.
The expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday and emphasised that the country's aviation sector has been galvanised in the past 10 years.
IndiGo has proposed to issue 185,000 shares worth to Chief Executive and Whole-time Director Ronojoy Dutta under the company's Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP). The shares that can be exercised at a price of Rs 765 apiece is worth Rs 14,15,25,000. Dutta can exercise 25 per cent of that at the end of first year, 35 per cent at the end of second year, and the remaining in December 2023 when his current tenure ends.
The eulogies will pour for Ustad Zakir Hussain. There will be those who recount his genius, his enterprise, his achievements, his grace, and his charm. I have no selfies or autographs to remember him by, but I will never forget his most generous and gracious gift to me -- one day in heaven, among the celestial ensemble of Indian music.
Analysts remain sceptical on the profitability from freighter business, saying that once normal air transport resumes and there's abundant belly capacity, the traditional economics of air cargo may not be that lucrative.
The founders of IndiGo may have thought it's time to go for a rejig of the top leadership team which can take care of the growing demands of an airline that has grown much bigger than they could have ever imagined, says Shyamal Majumdar.
The carrier said for domestic flights the fees for cancellation and changes would now be Rs 3,500 and Rs 3,000 respectively, if it was done within three days of the flight's departure. Before this announcement, IndiGo charged a flat rate of Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 for cancellation and detail changes on domestic tickets.
Aditya Ghosh, with no prior aviation background or MBA degree, managed not only to become the CEO of an airline but even piloted it to the top with almost half of the market.
Given its network and fleet, it has garnered the highest share of passenger growth.
Gangwal said he will not vote in favour of resolutions that intend to expand the size of the board to 10 members. Gangwal wants a seven-member board.
The on-time performance (OTP) of Indian carriers took a major dip in January as dense fog foiled their flight schedules. According to data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation reviewed by Business Standard, five out of six major Indian carriers - IndiGo, Air India, AIX Connect, Akasa Air, and Vistara - recorded their lowest OTPs in at least the last 11 months. In response to queries, an Air India spokesperson said that during this winter, northern India experienced unusually prolonged periods of dense fog affecting traffic at the airline's two largest hubs -- Delhi and Mumbai.
Despite having started at least a decade later than Jet Airways, IndiGo accounts for the lion's share in the domestic market
People in the know said the move would impact around 110 engines, virtually putting a spanner on the expansion plans of IndiGo - counted among the fastest growing airlines in the world.
Amid a massive global outage that hit operations of airlines, banks and businesses across the globe, Microsoft on Friday said that it is aware of the issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform.
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
IndiGo, India's largest airline, is in talks to raise fresh funds as a second wave of pandemic has led to collapse in travel demand. The airline may look to raise Rs 3,500-4,000 crore. On Monday, only 97,761 passengers flew. With flyers cancelling bookings, airlines had to put aside flights and operated only 1,306 of them.
The aircraft was taken to an isolated bay for a secondary ladder point check after a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) found the threat as 'specific', the sources said.
As photographs and video clips were distributed on social media, aviation security watchdog BCAS issued show cause notices to IndiGo and Mumbai airport operator MIAL over the incident, official sources said on Tuesday.
The new visa-free regime allows travellers to stay for up to 60 days instead of only 15 earlier.
With this, the biggest buyer of Airbus SE A320neo planes seems to be moving away from Pratt & Whitney engines, which have been experiencing glitches. CFM International will deliver the first engine by 2020.
IndiGo is facing acute shortage of commanders amid aggressive expansion of its fleet. The carrier has more than 210 planes in its fleet.
The cancelled flights account for almost 10 per cent of the airline's operations
