Pieter Elbers (born 11 May 1970) is a Dutch airline executive who is the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

IndiGo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

since 2022. He had been

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and CEO of the Netherlands' flag carrier airline,

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

, from 2014 until his appointment as CEO of IndiGo.

Early years

Elbers was born in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a large town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of the city Rotterdam, east of the town Vlaardingen and south of the city Delft. In the south, Schi ...

, in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. He attended elementary school at De Singel Primo Schiedam and studied at

Fontys University of Applied Sciences Fontys University of Applied Sciences is a Dutch university of applied sciences, located in the southern Netherlands. It has over 44,000 students on several campuses. The three largest Fontys campuses are located in the cities of Eindhoven, Til ...

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

where he received a Bachelor in Logistics Management. Afterwards, he did a master's degree in Business Administration at the

Open University of the Netherlands The Open University of the Netherlands () is a Dutch institution for distance learning at university level. It is an independent government-funded university and uses a variety of methods, including written materials, the Internet, and occasi ...

. He also studied abroad in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Career

Elbers graduated at Fontys University located in Venlo. Elbers started his career with

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

in 1992 as supervisor aircraft loading at the

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

hub, followed by a number of managerial positions in The

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

as well as abroad for six years, amongst which those of general/sales manager in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. After he returned to The Netherlands, he became SVP network & alliances, before he joined the board of managing directors in 2011 as

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

. Elbers was one of the pivotal members of KLM that led them to signing with airline alliance

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, after Star Alliance and Oneworld. Its annual passenger count is 624 million customers (2024), the second ...

. He is a member of the executive committee of the

Air France-KLM An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmospher ...

Group. Furthermore, he is a member of the supervisory board of Marfo B.V. In addition, he is a member of the board of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers. On 15 October 2014 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced that Elbers had been appointed by the KLM supervisory board as president and chief executive officer of KLM, replacing Camiel Eurlings. During his time in office, the Dutch state purchased a 14% stake in the company in 2019, in an effort to protect the Netherlands' interests. In early 2022, KLM announced that Elbers would not serve a third term and instead resign by May 2023. In June 2022,

announced the appointment of Elbers as its new CEO, replacing Ronojoy Dutta, who had retired. On 6 September 2022, Elbers formally took charge of IndiGo as the CEO.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbers, Pieter 1970 births Living people People from Schiedam Dutch businesspeople Dutch corporate directors Dutch chief executives in the airline industry Air France–KLM