IndiGo sees highest quarterly loss at Rs 3,174 crore

NEW DELHI: InterGlobe Aviation, which runs India's largest domestic airline IndiGo, on Tuesday reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss during the three month ended June 30. IndiGo's net losses surged 11.6% year-on-year to Rs 3,174.20 crore in Q1FY22, its highest ever for a single quarter.  

IndiGo had reported Rs 2,844.3 crore loss in Q1FY21 even as flights were entirely suspended for two months from March 25 to May 24 to curb the spread of first Covid-19 wave. IndiGo's performance in Q1FY22 signals the extent of damage second wave of Covid-19 infections had on India's aviation industry when air traffic plummeted to new lows. 

Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive officer at IndiGo, said in the post-earnings call he was deeply disappointed with the results. He added increased fuel prices and second Covid wave hurt the company’s performance in the quarter. According to IndiGo's balance sheet, fuel cost for the airline increased 853.7% to 1216 crore.  Dutta also informed that the airline saw its daily cash burn increase to Rs 33.4 crore during the June quarter compared to Rs 19 crore cash burn a day during the March quarter. 

In the March quarter when passenger traffic was recovering, IndiGo had reported a net loss of Rs 1,147 crore. Yields, a measure of average fare per passenger per kilometre, also fell to Rs 3.48 per kilometre in June quarter from Rs 3.70 on March quarter. It was Rs  4.54 in the June quarter last fiscal. 

IndiGo,’s total income for the quarter ended June 2021 was Rs 3,170.3 crore, up 177.2% over the same period last year. However, it fell around a half quarter-on-quarter.  "We are seeing a measured recovery in bookings for July and August. Notwithstanding the Industry’s present challenges, we remain firmly optimistic about IndiGo’s future. Our entire focus during this pandemic has been to manage our cash balances, run a high- quality airline and to continue to build our capabilities and be prepared for the post covid environment," said Dutta.