IndiGo posts Rs 189 Cr profit in September quarter

IndiGo on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 188.9 crore for the three months ended September, as the country's largest airline remained in the black for four straight quarters, boosted by higher traffic and increased capacity.

InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, had posted a loss of Rs 1,583.3 crore in the year-ago period, according to a release.

The net profit, excluding foreign exchange loss, stood at Rs 806.1 crore in the latest September quarter.

In the second quarter of the current fiscal, IndiGo's total income jumped 20.6% to Rs 15,502.9 crore. In the same period a year ago, the total income stood at Rs 12,852.3 crore.

For four consecutive quarters, IndiGo has delivered profitable growth, demonstrating effective execution of its plans and strategy coupled with strong demand, the release said.

"With our clear strategy and focus on execution, we have completed a full cycle and remained profitable for the last four quarters," IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said.

The airline's capacity increased 27.7% in the September quarter, which is "seasonally the weakest quarter", as per the release. Yield declined by 12.4% and load factor improved by 4.1 points to 83.3%, it said.

During the quarter, the number of passengers rose 33.4% to 26.3 million.

"Third quarter of fiscal year 2024 capacity in terms of ASKs is expected to increase by around 25% as compared to the third quarter of fiscal year 2023," the release said. ASK or Available Seat Kilometres is an indicator of capacity.

At the end of September, IndiGo's total cash balance stood at Rs 30,665.8 crore and had a fleet of 334 planes.

In September, IndiGo's domestic market share stood at 63.4%, according to the latest official data.

Shares of IndiGo gained nearly 1% to close at Rs 2,509 apiece on the BSE.