Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Monday reported a rise of 401.2 per cent in its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2018-19.
According to the airline, its net profit increased to Rs 589.6 crore in the three months ended March 2019, from Rs 117.6 crore in the same period a year ago.
With Jet Airways shutting down, both IndiGo and SpiceJet have been looking to capitalise, vying for the airport slots left by Jet. They have also been expanding their fleet aggressively, while adding several new routes.
In the earning’s call, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said that Jet Airways suspending its operations helped IndiGo in the month of February and March and that a total of 285 former Jet Airways’ pilots joined the airline. This helped the company overcome the pilot shortfall that it was facing.
The company's revenue from operations grew 35.9 per cent to Rs 7,883.3 crore in the last quarter, compared with Rs 5,799.1 crore registered in the same period a year ago.
However, for the entire fiscal 2018-19, IndiGo's net profit declined 93 per cent
to Rs 156.1 crore, from Rs 2,242.4 crore in the 2017-18.
"Fiscal 2019 was a tough year for the airline industry in India because of high fuel prices, weak rupee and intense competitive environment," Ronojoy said in a statement.
"However, it is a tale of two halves for IndiGo, with the first half of the year incurring losses and the second half of the year experiencing a sharp recovery. We see plenty of opportunities for profitable growth in our network and with a robust delivery stream of new aircraft, we are well positioned to capitalise on this growth."
As of March 31, 2019, Indigo's fleet consisted of 217 aircraft, including 130 A320neos, 71 A320neos, 1 A321neo and 15 ATRs.
Currently, IndiGo has the largest fleet of aircraft in India at 217, having added 9 in March. IndiGo is planning to increase its capacity to 262 aircraft this fiscal.