In today’s Finshots, we tell you what’s happening in Indian aviation and why the country’s top airline CEOs are heading for the exit door.

Also, If you’re someone who loves keeping tabs on the world of business and finance, hit subscribe if you haven’t already. And if you’re already a subscriber, thank you! Maybe forward this to someone who’d enjoy our stories but hasn’t discovered us yet.

The Story

India’s aviation story, at first glance, looks like a runaway success. Passenger traffic is at record highs, and as a result, airlines are placing some of the largest aircraft orders in history. The country is also the third-largest aviation market globally, behind only the US and China. Airports are expanding, routes are increasing, and schemes like UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik, meaning let the common citizen of the country fly) have brought regional connectivity into the spotlight.

And yet, right in the middle of this boom, two of the country’s biggest airlines have seen leadership churn.

For context, last month, IndiGo’s CEO Pieter Elbers stepped down. And earlier this week, Air India’s CEO Campbell Wilson announced he would also be stepping aside, saying the airline is ready for the next phase of its journey.

At first glance, this feels counterintuitive, right? Because leadership transitions usually happen during downturns or crises, not during periods of growth. But that is precisely what makes this moment important.

You see, over the last decade, the government has pushed air connectivity through schemes like UDAN, aiming to expand to regional airports and make air travel more accessible to the common man. This ambition now goes further. 

India wants to position itself as a global aviation hub. This means not just moving domestic passengers, but becoming a major transit point for international travel, cargo, and long-haul connectivity. Investments in aviation also have a strong ripple effect across the economy, as every $100 spent generates more than $300 in economic activity.

And naturally, airlines sit at the centre of this ambition. They drive traffic, shape routes, and directly determine how effectively India connects with the rest of the world.

But this is where the complexity begins to show.

Aviation, by nature, is a high-growth but low-margin business. Fuel costs, which account for over 20% of an airline’s operating expenses, are volatile and priced in USD, exposing airlines to foreign exchange risk. Apart from this, ticket pricing must remain competitive (and in INR), due to which profitability is often fragile. Even in the best of times, airlines operate with thin margins. But these are just the surface-level challenges.

What India is attempting now goes beyond these structural challenges.

Let’s take IndiGo, for instance. Over the last few years, they have been trying to evolve from a low-cost domestic carrier into a global airline. They have added flights to places in West Asia, South-East Asia, and even some parts of Europe. That shift requires new capabilities such as long-haul operations, new partnerships and code-sharing, as well as bigger aircraft, and a different service proposition altogether.

At the same time, Air India is undergoing one of the most ambitious turnarounds in aviation history under the Tata Group. It has integrated multiple airlines, is upgrading its fleet, and rebuilding its brand from the ground up.

These are full-scale reinventions, and not just incremental upgrades. And this is where the deeper challenge lies because what we’re trying to do is replicate what global aviation hubs achieved, but under very different conditions.

Take Singapore and Dubai. Both built their aviation ecosystems over decades with a clear, centralised vision. Singapore Airlines and Emirates were not just airlines. They were tools aligned with national policy. Governments coordinated airport infrastructure, bilateral agreements, and airline expansion in a tightly integrated manner.

Singapore made Changi Airport into one of the most efficient transit hubs in the world, supported by a strong national carrier. Dubai pursued a similar path, using Emirates as the backbone of its global connectivity strategy, backed by state capital and coordinated planning.

However, India’s approach is more complex.

Unlike countries that have built coordinated aviation ecosystems, India is scaling up through multiple airlines, expanding airports, and changing policies all at once. The ambition is clear, but the systems needed to support that ambition are still being built. And then there is a less visible, but far more critical bottleneck.

Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul, or MRO.

This is not as visible as aircraft orders or passenger numbers, but it is still important. As fleets grow larger, the ability to service aircraft quickly becomes important. Because delays in maintenance translate directly into grounded planes. And every plane that’s not in the air is lost revenue for an airline.

We have already seen this play out. IndiGo had issues with Pratt and Whitney engines, which led to a significant number of aircraft being grounded at various points. Air India, too, has faced regulatory scrutiny and fines following DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) audits that highlighted maintenance and safety gaps.

Global carriers faced similar challenges as they scaled, but addressed them early. For instance, going back to the examples of Singapore and Dubai, they did not treat MRO as a backend function. Instead, they built it into their core strategy and both evolved into major MRO hubs, allowing airlines to service aircraft locally, reduce turnaround times, and maintain high operational reliability. 

In fact, Singapore Airlines even created a subsidiary, Singapore Aero Engine Services Limited, for engine overhauls. This increased reliability and also created cost advantages. Lufthansa also has its own subsidiary, Lufthansa Technik, for MRO.

Indian airlines, in contrast, still rely heavily on foreign MRO services. That means longer turnaround times, higher costs due to dollar-denominated payments, and greater operational vulnerability. So, as fleets expand, this gap becomes more pronounced.

And this is what makes the current phase of Indian aviation particularly challenging. The industry is scaling rapidly while simultaneously trying to build foundational systems that should ideally have been in place earlier.

That brings us back to the leadership changes. As airlines grow, the nature of leadership required changes as well.

In the early stages, growth-oriented leaders focus on expansion: adding routes, increasing capacity, and gaining market share. But once that scale is achieved, the challenge shifts toward execution. Questions start to come up around reliability, fleet management, and regulatory compliance.

This is a fundamentally different skill set. Boards are no longer just looking for leaders who can grow the business, but for operators who can manage complexity at scale, integrate large systems, and deliver consistent performance.

And for IndiGo, this is exactly what Willie Walsh, the new CEO, brings to the table with his experience handling labour union conflicts, building IAG (International Airlines Group, British Airways’ Parent Company) by merging multiple airlines, and navigating the 2008 fuel shock.

What we are witnessing is a shift. One in which Indian aviation is moving from a phase of rapid expansion to one where execution, efficiency, and building systems will determine long-term success. 

So, the question is not “Why are top airline CEOs stepping down when Indian aviation is booming?”, it is “What happens when a fast-growing sector outgrows its leadership model?”. The stakes are higher, the systems are more complex, and the margin for error is smaller.

Global peers reached this stage through decades of alignment between policy, infrastructure, and airline strategy. But India is attempting to compress that journey into a much shorter time frame, while managing multiple competing interests.

Because the real challenge for Indian aviation is no longer about demand. That is clearly there. But it is about whether the system being built can actually sustain the ambition driving it.

Until then…

If you liked this story on what is happening in the Indian aviation sector, feel free to share this with your friends, family or even strangers on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or X.

Myth Alert: I'm Too Young to Buy Life Insurance!

The other day, one of our founders was chatting with a friend who thought life insurance was something you buy in your 40s. He was shocked that it was still a widely held belief.

Fact: Life Insurance acts as a safety net for your family. The younger you are, the cheaper it is. And the best part? Once you buy it, the premium remains unchanged no matter how old you get.

Unsure where to begin or need help picking the right plan? Book a FREE consultation with Ditto's IRDAI-Certified advisors today.