Willie Walsh’s First Call as IndiGo CEO: Squeeze More From Every Seat

India’s skies are quieter these days, and if you listen to the companies that make money from them, they’re all telling us that the easy growth is over.

The numbers for the quarter ending September 30 are hard to argue with. IndiGo flew 4.7% fewer passengers, 27.5 million in all, while its fuel bill jumped 67%, leaving a net loss of about INR 18.8 billion.MakeMyTrip says domestic departures fell 7% while fares shot up 25-30%. Ixigo told investors the flight market shrank in volume, and that festive demand is “a shade lower” than hoped.

So, what do you do when the ticket alone doesn’t cut it? You look beyond the ticket.

That was Willie Walsh’s message on his first earnings call as IndiGo’s CEO. He wants a better-monetized airline with the low-cost core left untouched. Responding to a Skift query at a media briefing before Thursday’s call, he said the airline has been a bit shy about promoting its premium IndiGo Stretch seats. He also pointed to paid extras and the BluChip loyalty program. IndiGo earns about INR 590 per passenger from ancillaries; Walsh says Ryanair earns five to six times that. Plenty of room to grow, in his eyes.

The travel agents are doing their own version of this. MakeMyTrip’s non-air business is now 63.2% of its bookings, with buses, cabs and hotels growing fast. Ixigo wants hotels, just 2.1% of its transaction value today, to become its first or second largest business within five years.

But Indians haven’t stopped travelling, they’ve just stopped paying for expensive flights.

Airlines are squeezing more out of every seat, while agents sell the journey around it. Whether passengers will put up with both at once is what I’ll be watching in 2027.