India’s biggest airline posts profit short of expectations

Mumbai: IndiGo reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates, as rising fuel costs offset the post-Covid travel rebound at India’s largest airline.

Net income at parent company InterGlobe Aviation was Rs9.16 billion ($111 million) in the period ended in March, short of the Rs16.2 billion rupees expected by analysts.

Revenue from operations surged 77 per cent to Rs141.6 billion from a year earlier.

Indian airlines as a whole carried 37.5 million passengers, up 52 per cent from a year earlier, according to data from the aviation regulator. With a market share of about 57 per cent, IndiGo is well positioned to exploit that growth. The airline flies to 78 domestic destinations and 26 international.

Robust demand and solid execution drove IndiGo to record fourth-quarter profit, its second profitable quarter in a row, CEO Pieter Elbers said in a statement.

The fourth-quarter result trimmed IndiGo’s annual loss to Rs3.17 billion.

IndiGo’s local dominance is only likely to strengthen with rivals Go Airlines India recently filing for insolvency protection and being ordered not to fly, and SpiceJet also struggling. IndiGo is holding talks with Go’s lessors about taking some of its Airbus planes, people familiar with the matter said this month.

Adding capacity will help IndiGo defend its position against Air India after the flag carrier made a world-record aircraft order earlier this year. Air India’s owner Tata Group is also in talks about Go’s planes, Bloomberg reported.

Shares of InterGlobe have advanced 13 per cent this year. They slipped 1.6 per cent earlier in local trading.