InterGlobe Aviation has deferred plans for qualified institutional placement (QIP) till December end and will look to raise debt for liquidity, the airline management said today after declaring a net loss of Rs 1,194 crore in second quarter FY 2021. In the same quarter last year, it had posted a net loss of Rs 1,062 crore.
InterGlobe Aviation which operates the country's largest airline, IndiGo, saw its revenue decline 64.5 per cent year on year to Rs 3,029 crore in the September-end quarter. Capacity deployed was 37 per cent lower year on year and seat occupancy fell to 65 per cent from 83 per cent in the same quarter last year. Yields however rose due to capacity restrictions, sequential improvement in demand and charter operations.
The company's performance was better than Bloomberg estimate which had projected Rs 1600 crore adjusted net loss.
The airline had in August announced plans to Rs 4,000 crore through a QIP but has now deferred the plans till the end of this year. Chief financial officer Aditya Pande said the airline's liquidity position is stable as it raised over Rs 1800 crore from asset monetisation in the last quarter. Other initiatives for liquidity infusion included renegotiation of contracts and credit lines. Daily cash burn too has reduced to Rs 25 crore from Rs 30 crore at the end of first quarter due to addition of flights. In the next couple of quarters the airline aims to mop up another Rs 3,000 crore of liquidity, he said.
Chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta said the airline is currently operating little less than 60 per cent of its capacity and hopes the government will allow airlines to operate at 80 per cent capacity by end of the year. Dutta added that fleet induction plan remained stable.
Dutta said the airline aims to quickly ramp up its international flights ( currently 20 per cent of last year) once the government eases restrictions but has no immediate plans to fly long haul routes due to route profitability concerns.
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