InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of domestic airline IndiGo, reported the financial results for the April to June quarter on August 2. During the quarter under review, the airline's consolidated profit after tax surged as much as 390.4% to ₹3,090.6 crore as against ₹1,064.3 crore in the same period last year, thus beating industry estimates of ₹2,322 crore. This is the highest-ever profit recorded by the domestic air carrier owing to weak competition and expensive air ticket prices.
The revenue from operations of IndiGo surged by 29.8% to ₹16,683 crore as against ₹12,855.2 crore in the Q1 of FY24. Sequentially, the company's profit surged by 236% quarter-on-quarter as against ₹919.2 crore in the March quarter of FY23. The revenue from operations on a sequential basis, surged by 17.4% as against ₹14,160.6 crore in Q4 of FY23.
The airline's EBITDA (earnings before income, tax, depreciation and amortisation) stood at ₹5,210.9 crore during the June quarter, witnessing a surge of 626.8%, as against ₹716.9 crore in the same period last year. The EBITDA margin expanded to 31.2% in the June quarter as against 5.6% in the same period last year.
"We produced strong operational performance and welcomed the highest number of quarterly passengers which enabled us to generate the highest ever quarterly revenue and net profit for the quarter ended June 2023. During this quarter, we placed a new order for 500 aircraft that takes our outstanding order book to 1,000 aircraft and further strengthens our position for future growth," says Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo.
During the quarter under review, the airline's income stood at ₹17,160.9 crore, an increase of 31.8% as against ₹13,018.8 crore in the Q1 of FY23. The passenger ticket revenues surged by 30.8% year-on-year at ₹14,995.6 crore, whereas ancillary revenues grew by 20.4% to ₹1,548.4 crore. The airline’s passenger capacity increased by 30.1% to 26.2 million.
As of June 30, 2023, the airline's total cash balance stood at ₹27,400 crore comprising ₹15,691.1 crore of free cash and ₹11,709.0 crore of restricted cash. The capitalised operating lease liability stood at ₹43,086.2 crore and the total debt at ₹46,291.9 crore.
As of June 30, the domestic air carrier has a fleet of 316 aircraft including 20 A320 CEOs, 166 A320 NEOs, 87 A321 NEOs, 39 ATRs, 2 A321 freighters and 2 B777 (damp lease). IndiGo operated 1,873 daily flights during the quarter including non-scheduled flights. During the quarter, the airline provided scheduled services to 78 domestic destinations and 22 international destinations.
In the June quarter, the airline had technical dispatch reliability of 99.2% and on-time performance of 89.2% at four key metro cities. The airline’s flight cancellation rate stood at 0.3%.
"Second quarter of fiscal year 2024 capacity in terms of ASKs is expected to increase by around 25% as compared to the second quarter of fiscal year 2023," says the airline.
Ahead of the financial results, shares of InterGlobe Aviation closed 0.18% lower at ₹2,565.7 crore in line with the broader BSE Sensex.
