IndiGo posts 5-fold rise in Q4 profit on Jet turbulence

Mumbai: InterGlobe Aviation, parent of IndiGo airline, on Monday reported a five-fold jump in profit after tax to Rs 589.6 crore for January-March on the back of higher passenger revenue.

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said Jet Airways grounding also helped the carrier improve its revenue performance in the fag end of February and in entire March with the developments effectively increasing its revenue by 3-4 per cent during the whole quarter.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 117.6 crore for the January-March quarter of 2017-18.

IndiGo plans to mount 30 per cent more capacity this fiscal and half of this capacity will be added on domestic routes and the rest 50 per cent on international routes, Dutta said during a call with analysts on Monday.

As many as 53 narrow body and and 11 ATRs are expected to be delivered to the carrier through next fiscal, he said, adding that the same number of the planes will be going out of the fleet as well during this period.

The carrier's total income rose by 35.5 per cent to Rs 8,259.8 crore in the quarter ended March 2019 compared to Rs 6,097.7 crore in the year-ago period, the company said.

Net profit for the full fiscal 2018-19, however, plunged 93 per cent to Rs 156.1 crore as against Rs 2,242.4 crore in 2017-18 owing to higher fuel cost and currency fluctuation, among others, it said.

"Fiscal 2019 was a tough year for the airline industry in India because of high fuel prices, weak rupee and intense competitive environment.

"However, it is a tale of two halves for IndiGo, with the first half of the year incurring losses and the second half of the year experiencing a sharp recovery," Dutta commented on the 2018-19 earnings.

IndiGo sees plenty of opportunities for profitable growth in its network and with a robust delivery stream of new aircraft, he said, adding, "we are well positioned to capitalise on this growth".

On the reported feud between the two promoters --Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal-- Dutta reiterated that there are no "differences" on the strategy or international strategy or management selection.

"There is one issue that we are debating right now and we are very optimistic that we will resolve that very shortly," he said.