IndiGo quarterly loss widens to Rs 1,147 crore

InterGlobe Aviation, parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, on Saturday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,147.2 crore in the three months ended March, primarily due to a sharp decline in revenues amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline, which had a fleet of 285 planes at the end of March 2021, had a net loss of Rs 870.8 crore in the year-ago period.

As air travel demand was significantly hit by the pandemic, the carrier's consolidated total income slumped over 26 per cent to Rs 6,361.8 crore in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, according to a release. The total income was at Rs 8,634.6 crore in the 2020 March quarter.

For the full year ended March 2021, the company's net loss widened to Rs 5,806.4 crore from Rs 233.7 crore in 2019-20 fiscal.

Total income fell 58 per cent to Rs 15,677.6 crore in the last financial year. The same stood at Rs 37,291.5 crore in the year-ago period.

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said that last fiscal had been a very difficult year with revenues slumping hard due to Covid, showing some signs of recovery during the period December to February and then slumping again with the second Covid wave.

"While we have seen a sharp decline in revenues in March through May, we are encouraged by the modest revenue improvements starting last week of May and continuing through June," he said.