Will government interfere, ask IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation to reshuffle board after flight cancelations?

The union government is likely to ask InterGlobe Aviation to reshuffle its board of directors in the wake of the IndiGo flight cancellation crisis.

After Tata Sons, IndiGo’s parent company InterGlobe Aviation Limited may come under the Union government’s scanner. Following the difficulties experienced by thousands of passengers across the country following the cancellation of 3,200 flights, the government is expected to step in and ask for the reconstitution of the company’s board of directors. If media reports are to be believed, the government is considering asking the company to reshuffle its board of directors to bring in more professionals and people with in-depth knowledge of the day-to-day running of the airline business in order to avoid the current crisis. The government wants to intervene due to the poor publicity of the crisis caused by the hardships experienced by stranded passengers.

IndiGo board change?

Vikram Singh Mehta, chairman and independent non-executive director, heads the board of IndiGo. Mehta served as an independent director on the boards of several companies, including Colgate-Palmolive, L&T and Mahindra & Mahindra, after serving for years as chairman of Shell Group companies in India. Rahul Bhatia is the promoter and managing director of the aviation company, which is currently under stress. Other members of the board include former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, lawyer Pallavi Shroff, former SEBI chairman M Damodaran, retired air chief BS Dhanoa and Anil Parashar, who is also on the board of many other InterGlobe group companies.

IndiGo flight cancellations

Michael Whitaker, former administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Gregg Saretsky, former CEO of WestJet, a Canadian airline, and COO of Alaska Airlines, have backgrounds in the aviation industry. The FAA is the agency responsible for air safety, efficiency and the operation of the air traffic system in the United States. Reports suggest that the government wants more people with experience in the aviation industry to sit on the board.

InterGlobe Aviation crisis

The current crisis is the first of its kind faced by the company after co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, a veteran in the airline industry, left the board after playing an active role. Gangwal, the former United Airlines and Air France executive, was the one who structured the running of the company. He is considered the brains behind the airline’s original low-cost, high-usage system. He is still remembered for his strict aircraft turnaround discipline, tight cost control, standardized fleet operations and focus on dispatch reliability. He is credited with helping IndiGo scale profitably even as its rivals stumbled through aggressive expansions.

IndiGo operational crisis

After a protracted tussle with co-promoter Bhatia, Gangwal quit IndiGo and sold his shares in blocks. He left the board of IndiGo in February 2022. The man, who owned more than 36 percent of the company before he started selling his shares, had a 5.86 percent stake in the company on September 30, 2025. Although the company adopted a more professional approach after his departure, it diluted the founder-led operational micromanagement that had previously served as an unofficial shock absorber against regulatory and crew-related disruptions.

The government wants IndiGo to reshuffle its board and hire more people with proven track records in the aviation industry.