Interglobe Aviation Ltd, which runs low-cost airline IndiGo, on May 21, reported a profit of Rs 3,067.5 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, flying into its second straight quarter in green, as strong domestic travel demand continued across India.
The biggest budget airline by market share had posted a net profit of Rs 1894.8 crore in the year-ago period. The airline's bottomline surpassed Street projection of a bottomline of Rs 2,330 crore to Rs 2,432 crore, according to an average of three brokerages.
The company's revenue from operations grew 24 percent to Rs 22,151.9 crore from Rs 17,825.3 crore last fiscal, just short of estimates of Rs 22,500 crore.
The carrier's EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rent) jumped to Rs 6,948.2 crore as against Rs 4,412.3 crore a year back, while its margin increased to 31.4 percent from 24.8 percent.
The airline's passenger ticket revenues and ancillary revenues came in at Rs 19,567.3 crore an increase of 25.4 percent on year and ancillary revenues cames in at Rs 2,152.5 crore, an increase of 25.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
The airline had reported a passenger ticket revenue of Rs 12,435 crore and ancillary revenue of Rs 1,445 crore in Q4FY23.
IndiGo has also recommendation of a dividend of Rs 10 per equity share subject to approval of the shareholders of the company at the ensuing Annual General Meeting (AGM).
"The payment of dividend will be completed within 30 days of declaration at the ensuing AGM," IndiGo said in a statement.
IndiGo's yields, a metric for profitability, increased 2.4 percent year-over-year to Rs 5.32 per kilometre. The carrier's load factor, or the passenger carrying capacity being utilised, improved by 1.1 percentage points to 87.4 percent.
“As we build on this momentum, we will continue to focus on cost leadership and further Internationalization with the start of our European operations," IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said.
The airline had flown in the red for the second quarter of 2024-25 on escalating fuel costs and volatility in foreign exchange. However, it has benefited from a strong recovery in domestic air travel in the world's third-largest aviation market.
The airline carried 277.71 lakh passengers, commanding a market share of 64.3 percent during the quarter. In the year-ago period, IndiGo carried 235.97 lakh passengers commanding a market share of 60.3 percent.
The operating performance was marred by high fuel costs as revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) stood at Rs 5.26, whereas cost per ASK (CASK) was at Rs 4.51. In the same period last year the airline's RASK was Rs 5.14 while CASK was Rs 4.62.
The company's total debt rose 30.3 percent on-year to Rs 66,809.8 crore in the March quarter, while total cash rose by 38.7 percent to Rs 48,170.5 crore including free cash of Rs 33,153.1 crore.
The airliner had 434 aircraft in its fleet at the end of the quarter down from 437 in the previous quarter. IndiGo operated at a peak of 2,304 daily flights during the quarter, including non-scheduled flights.
Shares of IndiGo on May 21 closed 0.4 percent higher at Rs 5,465.65 apiece on the BSE.
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