
Hit by a depreciating rupee, India’s largest airline, IndiGo, reported an 18.6 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for the third quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q3FY25) at Rs 2,449 crore, compared to Rs 2,998 crore during the same period last year. The lower profit comes as the airline incurred high forex losses.
IndiGo said that excluding the impact of currency movement, its profit for the reported quarter stood at Rs 3,850 crore, compared to Rs 3,050 crore during the same period last year.
The rise in foreign exchange losses overshadowed favourable factors such as the increase in passenger ticket revenue and lower fuel costs (a decline of 6 per cent year-on-year) for the airline. The rupee declined by about 2 per cent in the December quarter, and foreign exchange losses for the carrier jumped about 29 times.
The company’s rental costs also surged in the December quarter, and its overall expenses grew by 20 per cent.
Airlines in India mostly make payments for aircraft rentals, maintenance, and international operations in US dollars. Hence, a rise in the dollar’s value severely impacts their bottom line.
IndiGo’s total income for the quarter ended December 2024 stood at Rs 22,930 crore, an increase of 14.6 per cent over the same period last year. For the quarter, passenger ticket revenues were Rs 19,267 crore, an increase of 12.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Passenger yields, a measure of the average fare paid per mile and an indicator of airlines' pricing power, declined 1 per cent, while available seat kilometres (ASK), a measure of the airline's passenger-carrying capacity, grew 12 per cent during the quarter. IndiGo expects its ASKs to increase by 20 per cent in Q4FY25 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.
With a fleet of about 437 aircraft at the end of December 2024, IndiGo dominates India's domestic aviation market with a market share of around 63 per cent.
Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, said, “We delivered a strong third quarter of financial year 2025, both operationally and financially…These results were driven by robust demand in the market and our ability to cater to that demand supported by lower fuel prices…We touched new milestones as we operated a peak of 2,200 daily flights and served a record 31.1 million passengers during the quarter.”