The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
IndiGo, one of Asia’s biggest budget airlines, reported a wider-than-anticipated loss as passenger traffic shrank with the coronavirus tearing through India.
The carrier, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, posted a loss of $157 million in the three months through March, its fourth quarter. That compared with a loss of 8.7 billion rupee a year ago. The average forecast from analysts was for a loss of
4.5 billion rupees.
“This has been a very difficult year with our revenues slumping hard due to Covid, showing some signs of recovery during the period December to February and then slumping again with the second wave of the Covid,†Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said in the statement. “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.â€
While the pandemic has pushed many airlines around the world to the brink and beyond, the intensity of the outbreak in India has made it extra hard for operators there. The country’s carriers will need about $5 billion to survive, but they only have access to about $1.1 billion through share offerings and other means, according to CAPA Centre for Aviation. IndiGo and Air India Ltd will account for the bulk of the $8 billion in losses by 2022, CAPA said.
India had for a while been fairly robust for airlines thanks to its vast domestic network, though any positivity evaporated with the arrival of a devastating virus wave, which put the brakes on travel. The numbers are staggering, and likely under-reported. Latest data show nearly 30 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 340,000 deaths.
IndiGo said traffic, measured by revenue passenger per kilometre, dropped 29% in the first three months of 2021 from a year earlier. It filled 70.2% of its seats in the quarter, compared with 82.9% a year earlier. The carrier had 185.7 billion rupees cash and 298.6 billion rupees total debt as of March 31.