IndiGo's COO Prock-Schauer given additional role of airline's President

IndiGo's Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer has been given additional charge as the President of the low-cost airline as it steers ahead aggressively to expand seat capacity and add new destinations after the grounding of Jet Airways.

Prock-Schauer had joined IndiGo as COO on January 16 last year. As the President and COO now, he will be responsible for all operational aspects such as flight operations, maintenance and engineering, inflight services, airport operations, operations control centre and other management functions.

His term is for five years beginning Monday. With a fleet size of 217 aircraft -- including 130 Airbus A320 CEOs, 71 A320 Neos, 1 A321 Neo and 15 ATR -- IndiGo is India's largest airline with 45.6 per cent domestic market share. It expects a 30 per cent rise in available seat kilometres in fiscal 2020, a measure of the airline's passenger carrying capacity.

On Monday, IndiGo reported a profit after tax of Rs 589.6 crore during January to March quarter, up 401.2 per cent from Rs 117.6 crore a year ago. But in the full financial year 2018-19, profit after tax totalled Rs 156.1 crore, down 93 per cent from Rs 2,242.4 crore in the previous fiscal.

An experienced international executive having a professional experience of over 37 years, Prock-Schauer served as the Chief Executive Officer of Jet Airways from June 2003 to October 2009, where he presided over its fleet expansion from 40 planes to more than 100 as well as public listing and acquisition of Air Sahara.

He later joined GoAir as the Managing Director and is credited with playing a crucial role in its negotiations for the order of 72 Airbus A320neo planes and shifting of terminals at the New Delhi airport. However, GoAir owned by the Wadia Group sued Prock-Schauer for allegedly sharing confidential information about the airline with its competitor IndiGo.

The aviation professional has also worked in senior leadership positions with Austrian Airlines, British Midland International and Air Berlin in Germany and Britain.

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