Rahul Bhatia Age, Wife, Children, Biography, Family & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rahul Bhatia

• Rahul Bhatia is the Group Managing Director of InterGlobe Enterprises (as of 2024). He is also the Promoter and Managing Director of InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo).
• Rahul Bhatia was born in Nainital, where his family used to spend their summers. He grew up in Delhi.

• His family had its roots in Rawalpindi from where they relocated to Lucknow and later got settled in Delhi.

• After completing his schooling in the year 1977, Rahul moved to Toronto to pursue a degree in engineering. Although he had no interest in engineering, he chose to pursue it just to make his mother happy.

• He made it to the Dean’s Honour list during his college years.

• As a student at the University of Waterloo, Rahul worked with IBM for 2 years. There, he was involved in a project to establish a fully automated screen manufacturing plant.

• He also briefly worked in the Information Technology Department of United Airlines, where he met Rakesh Gangwal with whom he later co-founded IndiGo Airlines.

• In 1984, he returned to Delhi, India, from Canada and was looking to set up a telecom venture with Nortel. The idea was to set up digital telephone exchanges. However, the project couldn’t take off as the government at that time was not in favour of using foreign technology.

• Once, he also thought of doing a PhD and choosing teaching as a profession.

• During that time, his father was running an air travel business called Delhi Express, which he began in 1964 along with his nine friends. In 1988, when his father’s health deteriorated, he decided to assist his father in his business.

• Soon, Kapil sold his share in Delhi Express to start InterGlobe Enterprises, an air transport management firm, along with Rahul on 6 October 1989. The company later diversified into Civil Aviation (IndiGo), Hospitality, Airline Management, Travel Commerce, Advanced Pilot Training, Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and Logistics.
  

  InterGlobe’s Logo

• Rahul’s InterGlobe Enterprises had its first office at 66 Janpath in New Delhi.

• In 1994, Rahul obtained an all-India franchise for a joint venture to provide back-office services to his firm. The venture later came to be known as Galileo International (an airline reservation system).

• Rahul and his father Kapil desired to start an airline business and convinced Rakesh Gangwal, whom Rahul met at United Airlines, for years to collaborate for an airline. However, Gangwal was doubtful about it.
  

  Rahul Bhatia with Rakesh Gangwal

• After much persuasion, when Rakesh agreed to it, Rahul and Rakesh co-founded IndiGo Airlines and obtained an airline licence in 2004. Rahul Bhatia’s InterGlobe owned 51.12% stake in IndiGo and Rakesh Gangwal’s Caelum Investments held 48% stake in IndiGo.

• In June 2005, Rahul Bhatia ordered 100 Airbus A320-200 aircraft, at $6.5 billion at the Paris Air Show.

• IndiGo received its first Airbus aircraft on 28 July 2006 and launched its first flight from New Delhi to Imphal via Guwahati on 4 August 2006.

• By the end of 2007, Rahul ordered 15 more aircraft for IndiGo. Soon, it became a fastest growing low-cost carriers in the world. In 2010, the company collected a sale of Rs. 2,664 crore, revolutionising the entire aviation industry.

• On 26 April 2018, he became the Interim Chief Executive Officer of InterGlobe Aviation Limited after Aditya Ghosh resigned from the position.
  

  Rahul Bhatia with Aditya Ghosh

• In 2019, Rahul and Rakesh started having conflicts regarding how IndiGo should run. In 2022, Rakesh stepped down from the board of IndiGo and began selling his stake in the company.

• In 2022, Rahul’s privately held InterGlobe Enterprises had a joint venture with logistics company UPS named Movin, a new logistics brand in India.

• In 2022, a picture of Rahul Bhatia went viral on the internet in which he was seen travelling in Economy class on his flight from Bengaluru to Delhi, enjoying tea with Parle-G biscuits.
  

  Rahul Bhatia while travelling in IndiGo Airline’s economy class

• In February 2024, Rahul’s IndiGo Aviation had a 62% domestic market share. It had a fleet of more than 350 aircraft. Their flights took off to 118 locations including 32 overseas destinations.

• In April 2024, Rahul joined hands with former Tech Mahindra’s chief executive officer CP Gurnani for an artificial intelligence (AI) venture called AIonOS. The firm aims to provide AI-powered SaaS solutions to help travel, transportation, logistics, and hospitality businesses increase their revenue.

• As of 2024, Rahul’s hospitality arm Interglobe Hotels has 21 hotels in India (in collaboration with France hospitality group Accor) and 13 hotels outside India including the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel.

• He often consumes alcohol at parties and events.

• He also serves on the board of many companies including InterGlobe Technology Quotient Private Limited, InterGlobe Aviation Limited, InterGlobe Aviation Private Limited, Acquire Services Private Limited, Bharat Telecom Limited, InterGlobe Foundation, InterGlobe Education Services Limited, InterGlobe Established Private Limited, InterGlobe Luxury Products Private Limited, InterGlobe Technologies Private Limited, ITQ Consultancy Private Limited, Shree Nath Shares Private Limited, and Pegasus Utility Maintenance Services Private Limited.

• Unlike other businessmen in the airline industry, Rahul Bhatia prefers wearing casual shirts and kurta Pajama then wearing business suits.