InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the parent company that runs IndiGo, on Wednesday reported one of its biggest quarterly loss at Rs 2,844.3 crore during Q1 of FY 21 compared to a net profit of Rs 1,203.1 crore in the same period a year ago.
"Closure of scheduled operations till May 24, 2020 and lower capacity deployment thereafter on account of COVID-19, significantly impacted the quarterly results," IndiGo said in an exchange filing.
The Company's CEO, Ronojoy Dutta said, "The aviation industry is going through a crisis of survival and therefore, our cash balance remains our number one priority. However, we also recognize that major disruptions offer companies opportunities for improvement in product, customer preference, costs and employee engagement. We have built a strong team which is working on multiple fronts to ensure that we emerge from this crisis stronger than ever."
Total income for the quarter for IndiGo was Rs 1,143.8 crore, a decrease of 88.3 per cent over the same period last year. For the quarter, IndiGo's passenger ticket revenue was Rs 585.4 crore, a decrease of 93.1 per cent.
Going ahead, IndiGo expects Q2 fiscal 2021 Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) to be around 40 per cent of its Q2 fiscal 2020 ASKs. ASK is a measure of an airline's carrying capacity to generate revenue.
India's aviation sector continues to struggle and bounce back from the impact of coronavirus. While the government allowed domestic operations at limited capacity from May 25 and formed "air bubble" agreement with foreign nations recently, there is no sight of recovery for the sector in near future.
Cases of coronavirus in India is growing at fastest rate in the world and many state governments continue to implement local travel restrictions, making recovery of the sector more difficult. So far, the government has denied any direct relief to the sector, prompting airlines to take severe steps.
IndiGo has reduced its workforce by 10 per cent and is implementing steeper paycuts to offset the impact of Covid-19 on its revenue.
As of June end, lndiGo informed it has a total cash balance of Rs 18,449.8 crore, comprising Rs 7,527.6 crore of free cash and Rs I0,922.2 crore of restricted cash.
Its fleet consist of 274 aircraft including 123 A320ceos, l 08 A320neos, 18 A32 l neo and 25 A TRs; a net increase of 12 aircraft during the quarter.