IndiGo Q1 profit falls 11.7% to ₹2,728 crore

Net profit of IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation fell 11.7% year-on-year to ₹2,728 crore for the quarter ended June as higher fuel and other expenses weighed on strong air travel demand.

Revenue from operations rose 17.3% to ₹19,570 crore in the first quarter compared with ₹16,683.1 crore in the same quarter last year.

IndiGo's total expenses jumped 24% to ₹17,449 crore in the June quarter, with aircraft fuel expenses at ₹6,416 crore, up 22.7% compared to ₹5,228 crore in the year-ago period. Jet fuel constitutes around 40% of the running cost of an airline. Its aircraft and engine rental costs more than trebled to ₹624 crore in Q1 FY25.

India’s largest carrier reported an EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and rent) at ₹5,811 crore, a growth of 11.5%.

The budget airline’s load factor, or the passenger carrying capacity being utilised, declined 1.9 percentage points to 86.7% for the June quarter.

The carrier’s available seat kilometres (ASK), a measure of an airplane's carrying capacity to generate revenue, rose 11% year-on-year to ₹3,630 crore in Q1.

Yield, the average amount of revenue received per paying passenger flown one kilometre, rose 1.3% year-on-year to ₹5.24 in Q1 FY25 from ₹5.18 in the corresponding quarter last year.

“I am pleased to report another strong quarterly financial performance for the first quarter of financial year 2025,” says Pieter Elbers, CEO, InterGlobe Aviation.

A continued growth in total income of 18% as compared to the same period last year to ₹20,250 crore rupees and a net profit of ₹2,730 crore, resulting in a solid margin of around 14%, says Elbers.

“In a few days, we will celebrate our 18th anniversary wherein we will unveil our recently announced new initiatives to address the evolving market developments and our customers’ feedback,” says Elbers.

According to aviation consultant CAPA, India’s airline fleet is set to double by 2030 as carriers could add up to 700 aircraft in the next 5-7 years.

IndiGo, which corners around 60% domestic market share, is looking to add at least 1 aircraft every week.

India remains an underpenetrated aviation market. The industry is expected to more than double in size from around 225 million passengers this fiscal to 510 million passengers by FY30, according to CAPA. Only 6.2% Indians hold passports. Not surprisingly, over 30% of all aircraft orders in 2023 came from Indian airlines.

The low-cost airline aims to double its size by the end of this decade, transforming it from a domestic carrier to a global aviation giant. To fuel these ambitions, InterGlobe Aviation placed a historic order of 500 new aircraft with Airbus. This order will give it a steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035.

India is geographically well-placed to have global aviation hubs like Singapore and those in the Middle East as 65% of the world population lives within 5-6 hours of flying time from India, Elbers said last year. Comparing India's aviation market with China, Elbers said there are around 750 aircraft in India for a population of about 1.4 billion. In China, with a similar population, there are around 3,500 aircraft, highlighting that India is still under-served in aviation.