IndiGo reports record profit in March quarter on robust demand

InterGlobe Aviation Limited, which operates India’s largest airline IndiGo, on Thursday reported a record profit of ₹919.2 crore in the March quarter on the back of robust demand for air travel during the period.

In a post-earnings conference call, the airline’s management termed the last financial year as the year of recovery and growth.

The management said that the forward bookings remain robust and the airline will expand further in Central and South Asia, along with Middle East.

The airline is also in the process to hire 5,000 employees and aims to double its size by 2030.

This comes at a time when the average daily air passenger traffic in the Indian civil aviation market touched 420,000 during the quarter, higher than the daily air passenger traffic in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, as per data from the civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The total income for the airline during the quarter rose by 78% on year to ₹14,600 crore.

The March quarter of 2021-22 was impacted due to the dampened travel sentiment amid the surge in covid-19 cases caused by the omicron variant.

As a result, the company had reported a net loss of ₹1681.8 crore and total income of ₹8207.5 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

IndiGo reported a yield or revenue earned per paying passenger flown per km of ₹4.85 per km as compared to ₹4.40 per km in the same quarter a year ago.

The low-cost carrier expects the total capacity in terms of available seat kilometers or passenger carrying capacity to increase by 5-7% in the June quarter of 2023-24 as compared to the March quarter of 2022-23.

For the financial year 2022-23, InterGlobe Aviation reported a net loss of ₹305.8 crore.

The airline had reported a net loss of ₹6161.8 crore in the previous financial year which ended in March 2022.

As of 31 March 2023, the airline’s fleet stood at 304 aircraft including 21 A320 ceos (current engine option), 162 A320 neos (new engine option), 79 A321 NEOs, 39 ATRs, two A321 freighters and one Boeing 777 on wet lease arrangement.

Overall, the airline was able to increase its fleet by two aircraft during the quarter.

On Thursday, the company's share ended 1.57% lower at ₹2,264 on the BSE.