Don't expect price wars due to entry of new domestic players, says IndiGo's Ronojoy Dutta

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta

Domestic budget carrier IndiGo airline's Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said on May 25 that he does not expect any price war due to the entry of new players in the domestic civil aviation sector such as Akasa Air and Jet Airways.

He said: “Expect rational behaviour to continue as more airlines such as Jet Airways and Akasa enter.”

Dutta’s comments come as InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo airline, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,681.80 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 (Q4FY22), due to a surge in aircraft fuel expenses.

Also read: Indigo Q4 Result | Net loss widens to Rs 1,681.80 crore as fuel expenses surge

Revenue of the company jumped 29 percent from a year ago to Rs 8,020.75 crore versus Rs 6,222.95 crore logged in the same quarter last year. Its passenger ticket revenues came in at Rs 6,884.70 crore, up 38.4 percent, while ancillary revenues stood at Rs 1,058.30 crore, up 18.8 percent compared to the same period last fiscal.

Commenting on the figures, Ronojoy Dutta said that the April unit revenue was six percent higher than that of March, while May’s was six percent higher than in April.

He added that he expects “capacity deployment to be nearly 2.5 times, i.e., 50-60 percent higher in 2022-23 as compared to 2021-22”.

The IndiGo CEO further informed that the budget carrier had a Rs 77.6 billion free cash balance on its books at the end of March 2022, which is Rs 0.5 billion lower than in December 2021. IndiGo’s total cash balance on its books at the end of March 2022 stood at Rs 182.3 billion, while foreign exchange losses in January-March 2021-22 stood at Rs 600 crore.

Dutta added: “I am seeing that the booking cycle is getting back to pre-covid level. We have seen a complete recovery of pre-COVID level in corporate travel and am quite bullish about growth in corporate travel going forward.”