InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which owns and operates low cost airline IndiGo, returned to profit in the third quarter ended December 31, reporting a net of ₹190 crore. It had posted a loss of ₹652 crore in the second quarter ended September 30.
On a year-on-year basis, the net fell 75% — the company had reported a net profit of ₹762 crore in the same period last year.
The drop in profit was on account of 31% increase in fuel cost and depreciation of the Indian rupee as compared to the same period last year.
During the period, revenue increased 28% to ₹7,916 crore as compared to ₹6,177.9 crore in the same period last year.
Yield improved 3.7% due to more sales of tickets in the 0 to 15 days booking window and increased sales during the festive season of November and December, 2018
“We posted ₹190 crore profit in continued difficult environment and have grown our fleet by one aircraft a week for a 33% capacity increase for the quarter. We have set very ambitious growth plans,” said Rahul Bhatia, co-founder & interim CEO, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.
“Very few airlines around the world have operational resilience to absorb such rapid growth. We find that the markets we serve are responding very positively to this new capacity. We are building a very strong platform for sustainable future growth and profitability,” Mr. Bhatia said.
He said during the calendar year 2018, IndiGo inducted 55 new aircraft, including 19 in the October to December quarter. As on December 31, 2018, the airline had a fleet of 208 aircraft which include 127 A320ceos, 66 A320neos, 1 A321neo and 14 ATRs.
As on December 31, 2018 the company had total cash balance of ₹14,136 crore comprising ₹4,618.3 crore of free cash and ₹9,517.8 crore restricted cash. The total debt which is aircraft related is ₹2,475.9 crore.
Having acquired a 42% share in the domestic market, IndiGo will now focus on international expansion besides growing its presence in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, top company executives said. They said that the airline will now progressively induct A321neos to serve international markets and highly saturated metro airports.
International expansion, which is the airline’s third phase of growth after metro markets and then Tier 2 & Tier 3 markets, expected to be rapid and it is expected to grow by 30%.
IndiGo now wants to replicate its domestic market success in the international market. It said it would need more planes to tap the opportunities in international expansion.
