IndiGo on Friday reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of ₹1,203 crore for the quarter ended June, a 43 times jump over the same period last year.
The airline’s revenue from operations stood at ₹9,420.1 crore for the quarter, an increase of of 44.7% over the year-earlier period.
Its expenses rose 22% to ₹8,277 crore. Passenger ticket revenue rose 46.4% to ₹8,445 crore and ancillary revenue stood at ₹902 crore, an increase of 32.2% over the year-earlier period.
IndiGo’s CEO Ronojoy Dutta attributed the strong revenue performance partially to the cessation of operations by Jet Airways, optimisation of the airline network as well as a 35% increase in revenue from cargo with the airline adding a range of products for its cargo belly.
“This quarter also saw a high percentage of bookings in the 0-15 day window with closing fares also holding up and helping our revenue performance,” he said in a conference call with analysts
Giving an outline of its plans for international expansion, the CEO said that it will connect Vietnam and Myanmar next quarter, which will add to the traffic flow to destinations in the Buddhist circuit.
The airline has already announced plans to connect Kolkata to Gaya, Varanasi and Patna from next month.
It also plans to induct its first CFM International Leap 1-A engine propelled A320 family of aircraft from next year.
The board meeting preceding the announcement of the results was much awaited because of the ongoing spat between co-promoters Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia. The former had sought SEBI’s intervention into alleged governance lapses as well as related party transactions between Mr. Bhatia’s InterGlobe Enterprises and IndiGo. “There was a fulsome discussion on all the issues,” said Mr. Dutta.
Woman director mulled
He said the board also discussed the appointment of a woman independent director to comply with the law, another issue highlighted by Mr. Gangwal. “In order to do this we need to amend the Article of Association and a final decision will be taken tomorrow.”
The airline has responded to SEBI’s request for details and will be replying to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by the end of next week.
