‘Felt there is no better time than this to step off the treadmill’

MUMBAI: Setting up Indigo and making it India’s largest airline all in a matter of 10 years has been “a sprint” and “not a marathon”, said Aditya Ghosh, who will step down as president and wholetime director of Interglobe Aviation Ltd on July 31.

“I had been talking to the founders, Rahul and Rakesh for a while. We have worked closely for nearly 16 years. So, it took me a while to convince them that I am actually serious about branching out and doing something different,” Ghosh, who is a lawyer by profession said in an interview, allaying concerns that he had a fallout with the founders amid several PR fiascos concerning Indigo passengers and grounding of Indigo planes due to snags in Pratt & Whitney engines. “I felt that there is no better time than this to step off the treadmill and think of my next adventure,” he said. Edited excerpts from an email interview: 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. Of course, it will be up to the new leadership to shape the future. Now that there is a solid foundation, there are lots of new opportunities for the organisation to chase. It has been a difficult decision. One with mixed emotions. I cannot begin to describe the love and affection I have got from my colleagues. It is almost unreal!

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. At the same time, it has been an amazing ride! I was having a lot of fun in creating something that this country had never seen before. Having said that, I had been wanting to do something new for a while. I had been talking to the founders, Rahul and Rakesh, for a while. We have worked closely for nearly 16 years. So it took me a while to convince them that I am actually serious about branching out and doing something different.

Having built a rock solid foundation where the organisation, as you said, is a market leader by miles, I felt that there is no better time than this to step off the treadmill.