In a move that is as pragmatic as it is ironic, IndiGo has decided to equip its ATR pilots with the now-discontinued iPad 9 as part of its ‘NextGen EFB’ (Electronic Flight Bag) program. Apple may have retired the iPad 9, but IndiGo has found a new life for it—up in the skies.
Per IndiGo, its latest initiative is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and digitising the cockpit environment. The iPad 9, with its A13 Bionic chip and 10.2-inch Retina display, is still a capable tablet. It’s just that Apple has moved on to newer and shinier things—specifically, the tenth-generation iPad.
IndiGo first introduced Electronic Flight Bags on its ATR fleet back in 2020. Since then, the airline has operated roughly 450,000 flights using this technology, achieving impressive reductions in paper use and, by extension, carbon emissions. The transition to a digital cockpit has been hailed as a major step forward for the airline, and now, with the iPad 9, IndiGo is taking that step further.
Captain Ashim Mittra, Senior Vice President of Flight Operations at IndiGo, expressed his excitement about the ‘NextGen EFB’ program. According to him, the initiative not only boosts operational efficiency but also empowers pilots with the latest tools—well, not the latest, but certainly functional and reliable ones. The program aims to eventually achieve a completely paperless cockpit, a vision that the iPad 9 is apparently still up to helping realise.
Meanwhile, Apple has updated its entry-level iPad range, dropping the price of the tenth-generation model and bidding farewell to the ninth-generation version. (However, the iPad 9 is still available for enterprise and education customers in India.) The iPad 9, which was introduced in 2021, has old-school features like a lightning port, home button, and even a headphone jack. These once-loved relics are now officially history, as all of Apple’s current iPads embrace the USB-C standard, in line with EU regulations that marked the beginning of the end for the lightning port.
So, while Apple marches ahead, IndiGo has found a way to keep the iPad 9 flying—literally. As the airline continues to roll out its NextGen EFB program, one thing is clear: sometimes, yesterday’s tech still has plenty of runway left.
