IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta has said that the country's largest airline will miss the outlook given for capacity deployment in the second quarter.
Responding to queries from shareholders during the company's annual general meeting on September 4, Dutta said the airline will have a capacity deployment of 32 percent, against 40 percent expected earlier.
At present, the senior executive added, the fleet utilisation was at about 30-35 percent. In June, just after it had reported one of the highest quarterly losses, the airline had said it wanted to expand capacity to up to 70 percent by the third quarter.
IndiGo has the country's largest fleet with over 270 planes.
Dutta pointed out that the airline has reduced its cash burn since domestic operations opened up in May. From Rs 40 crore in May, the cash burn has come down to Rs 30 crore a day. It continues to get better, Dutta said about the daily cash use.
Commenting on the company's plans to raise Rs 4,000 crore through qualified institutional placement, which it had announced in August, Dutta said, there is a "50-50 chance of being implemented."
Instead, he added, the company was focused on increasing liquidity through sales revenue, while having these financial initiatives on the side.
The AGM
The annual meeting, held online, was marked by the presence of co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, who has been at loggerheads with fellow co-founder Rahul Bhatia. Gangwal, who is based in the US, was absent in last year's AGM.
Bhatia, who was also present, had filed an arbitration request at a London court in 2019, against Gangwal. The two had locked horns over Gangwal's allegations, including one that Bhatia's private firms had benefited from deals with IndiGo, in related party transactions.
Neither Gangwal, nor Bhatia, spoke at the AGM.
Chairman M Damodaran earlier opened up the AGM, remarking that the pandemic had impacted the airline, like the rest of the industry. He also noted that the Board of the company has been expanded to 10 directors, from earlier six. Expansion of the board was one of the demands put forth by Gangwal.
CEO Dutta, later on, took questions from the shareholders.
Reiterating the airline's position on long haul flights, Dutta said that the company at present had no plans to immediately buy wide-body aircraft. This is much against the trend, which has seen peers such as SpiceJet and Vistara deploying wide body aircraft on long haul routes.
The delivery of A321XLR, which can fly to western Europe, will happen according to the original timeline of the first quarter of 2024. There are no plans to advance it, said Dutta.
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