He succeeds Pieter Elbers who resigned as IndiGo’s CEO on 10 March, citing private causes.
But it was broadly seen as being linked to a current disaster that pressured the airline to cancel 1000’s of flights, the biggest disruption in its 20-year historical past.
In December, the service cancelled about 4,500 flights, leaving 1000’s of passengers stranded at airports throughout India.
The disruption adopted the introduction of new pilot responsibility and relaxation laws in India designed to scale back fatigue amongst flight crews. The airline later acknowledged it had misjudged what number of pilots it might want as soon as the foundations got here into pressure.
In an interview with the BBC, Walsh declined to remark straight on the airline however provided a broad evaluation of India’s aviation panorama and the challenges it faces.
“I’m not going to really comment on it because I haven’t started there until August,” he mentioned, referring to IndiGo. “So I can comment about India in general, but not IndiGo specifically.”
Walsh mentioned India’s aviation sector had been “fascinating to watch in recent years”, pointing to robust progress and bettering connectivity.
“When you look at that, 1.4 billion people, the geography of the country, the demographics, everything points to the needs and the desire to see greater connectivity by air,” he mentioned.
However, Walsh highlighted a main hole in long-haul capability.
“When you think about it, it’s a country of 1.4 billion and counting. But they only had 50 widebody aircraft in the country last year. So that’s probably – you could describe it as a scandal,” he mentioned.
“They should be much bigger than that. And I think they will be much bigger than that going forward.”
Walsh additionally pointed to a vital alternative for Indian carriers to develop their international footprint.
“India has depended on transferring people over the Gulf hubs, particularly into North America,” Walsh mentioned. “So that’s a huge opportunity for Indian carriers to grow their presence on the global scale.”
On the broader financial outlook, Walsh mentioned India can be “a fascinating economy to watch in the years ahead”, expressing confidence in its progress trajectory.
He additionally addressed the affect of international vitality disruptions, noting that India’s place as a main oil importer presents distinctive challenges.
“India is a big importer of oil. Interestingly, they’re a big refiner as well,” he mentioned, including that the availability of jet gasoline had been affected by restrictions linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
Walsh mentioned the disruptions might immediate a broader rethink on vitality coverage.
“I’d like to think that this will encourage governments again to evaluate the advantage of renewable energy where we don’t see a corresponding investment in renewable energies compared to the investments we’ve seen in traditional fossil fuels,” he mentioned
“So maybe this will help people to re-evaluate that in terms of energy security and energy independence rather than just looking at it strictly from an environmental point of view.”
But Walsh expressed disappointment on the behaviour of sustainable gasoline suppliers.
“What has been disappointing for us is to see the significant increase in the price of sustainable aviation fuel,” Walsh mentioned.
“You would have liked to have thought… this would have been a great opportunity… to demonstrate the importance of sustainable fuel as an alternative.”
“Instead, we are seeing people just taking profit out of what’s happening at the moment,” he added. “At one level, I find that disappointing. At another level, I suppose you’ve got to recognise that’s the way markets operate.”
Despite present challenges, Walsh mentioned demand fundamentals remained robust and any disruption to key routes, similar to these linking India with the Gulf, was prone to be momentary.
“I think it will rebound pretty quickly,” he mentioned.
Looking forward, Walsh reiterated the size of the chance.
“I’ve been a long supporter and admirer of what’s happening in India,” he mentioned. “The investment that the airlines have made, the investment that the governments have made in the infrastructure there.”
“The opportunity for India,” Walsh added, “is actually to provide direct international connectivity from India to the world.”
Follow BBC News India on Instagram, external, YouTube,, external X, external and Facebook, external.
