Fuelled by robust travel demand, InterGlobe Aviation on Friday reported a steep rise in profit at Rs 1,422.6 crore in the three months ended December 2022.
The parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo had a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 129.8 crore in the same period a year ago.
IndiGo's total income jumped to Rs 15,410.2 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 9,480.1 crore in the year-ago period, according to a release.
Excluding foreign exchange loss, the airline reported a profit of Rs 2,009.1 crore in the latest December quarter compared to Rs 125.2 crore in the year-ago period.
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In a reflection of strong travel demand, the budget carrier ferried 2.23 crore passengers in the third quarter, an increase of nearly 26 per cent compared to the same period a year ago when it stood at 1.78 crore.
The load factor, a measure of seat occupancy, rose to 85.1 per cent in the December quarter as against 79.7 per cent in the year-ago period.
"Third quarter performance was strong both operationally and financially in the backdrop of robust demand for air travel. The wide range of initiatives that were set in motion across the organisation have started to yield results," IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said.
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He also said the company reported its highest-ever quarterly revenue of Rs 154.1 billion and robust profit of Rs 14.2 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023.
"With a modern fleet of over 300 aircraft, we continue to serve the market with further capacity growth planned across domestic and international sectors," he said.
The airline had a domestic market share of 55.7 per cent in the December quarter, as per data from aviation regulator DGCA.
IndiGo had a fleet of 302 planes, including 23 A320 CEOs, 160 A320 NEOs, 78 A321 NEOs, 39 ATRs and 2 A321 freighter at the end of December last year.
At the end of December 2022, IndiGo had a total cash balance of Rs 21,924.7 crore, including Rs 10,612.5 crore of free cash.
"The capitalised operating lease liability was Rs 410,420 million. The total debt (including the capitalised operating lease liability) was Rs 444,752 million," the release said.
Shares of IndiGo declined 1.21 per cent to close at Rs 2,100 apiece on the BSE.
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